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US Focus in Afghanistan Shifts to Kabul

Some 3,500 troops will guard capital region

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 7, 2008 9:35 AM CST

(Newser) – January’s US troop deployments in Afghanistan will focus on areas near Kabul, reflecting rising security concerns about the capital, the New York Times reports. The move marks the first time large numbers of troops will be deployed to regions south of the city. The 3,500 to 4,000 US soldiers in the new brigade are part of 20,000 set to head to Afghanistan over the next 12 to 18 months, largely transferring from Iraq.

The Kabul-area deployments mean few, if any, new troops in insurgency strongholds, and defending the borders from an influx of militants, despite the wishes of US commanders and Afghanistan’s president. In recent months, Hamid Karzai has urged the US to take the battle to the borderlands, rather than fighting in villages where civilian casualties are high. Some 62,000 foreign troops are currently “spread thinly” across the country, the Times notes, and commanders say more are urgently needed.

A truck, right, transports coffins containing bodies of foreign aid workers in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008.
A truck, right, transports coffins containing bodies of foreign aid workers in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008.   (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
US soldiers listen to their commanders, not in picture, during a ceremony marking Veterans Day at Camp Eggers in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008.
US soldiers listen to their commanders, not in picture, during a ceremony marking Veterans Day at Camp Eggers in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008.   (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
An Afghan policeman is swathed in ammunition for his heavy machine gun, during a routine patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008.
An Afghan policeman is swathed in ammunition for his heavy machine gun, during a routine patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008.   (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
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