A U.S. Marine from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit looks through his gun sights during a patrol in the town of Garmser in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, Sunday, July 13, 2008. Some 2,200 Marines, who have been deployed since late April, moved into the town of Garmser to sweep out insurgents. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)From Reuters:
KABUL, May 31 (Reuters) - The majority of the 17,000 extra U.S. troops being sent to fight a growing Taliban-led insurgency in southern and western Afghanistan should be on the ground by mid-July, the U.S. military said on Sunday.
A further 4,000 troops are arriving to train Afghan security forces and they will be deployed by August.
Washington pledged to send 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to reinforce security ahead of presidential elections scheduled for Aug. 20 and to support NATO-led troops which have struggled to fight an escalating insurgency there.
"10,000 Marines are beginning to arrive now and will continue to arrive for the next month and a half or so and they will be principally located in Helmand but also in Farah," said Colonel Greg Julian, spokesman for U.S. forces.
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My Comment: These troops are needed now.