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US Marines surge in Afghanistan to begin next week

Tuesday, December 08, 2009 WASHINGTON: The members of a 1,500-strong contingent of US Marines will begin arriving in southern Afghanistan next week as part of the first elements of President Barack Obama’s troop build-up of 30,000 troops, officers said.The United States hopes the 7,000 additional troops promised by NATO allies will arrive in Afghanistan by the first half of 2010.The new commitments are expected to swell the ranks of foreign troops in Afghanistan next year to 150,000, some two thirds of them US forces.Apart from the 1,500 Marines heading to southern Helmand province this month, another 6,200 Marines from Camp Lejeune were due to deploy in the ‘early spring’ next year and 800 Marines based in California would head to Afghanistan at the same time, the Pentagon said.The US Army also was mobilizing troops, with 3,400 from the 10th Mountain Division in Fort Drum in New York state ordered to head out in the spring to focus on training Afghan security forces.About 4,100 support troops, which include medics and bomb disposal teams, also were ordered to deploy between now and the spring of 2010.
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