U.S. may cut Afghan force size [View All]

[dArKeR]

KABUL, Afghanistan - The United States, which has increased troops numbers in Afghanistan to hunt for Osama bin Laden and other militants, may cut their number after the country holds elections, the top U.S. military officer said on Friday.

General Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces in Afghanistan were moving to uproot al-Qaida militants and their Taliban allies and head off violence ahead of September elections.

“We’ve ramped up our presence here a little bit anticipating and trying to ensure that we have no more violence as we head towards elections,” Myers said, after arriving in Kabul from Iraq for a first-hand look at military operations.

“So we’re a little stronger, a little beefier than we have been. That does ebb and flow,” he told reporters travelling with him. “It’s quite likely we could go back down to lower numbers.

“We will see how events unfold. I think generally most of the country is pretty secure as a matter of fact,” he added.

A U.S. military official in Kabul said 2,000 U.S. Marines arriving in Afghanistan would be sent to Kandahar province in the south and Tirin Kot in the central Uruzgan province, about 220 miles southwest of Kabul.

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We're giving up on the real terrorists?