More US Troops Heading into Afghanistan as Taliban Conquest Approaches Tipping Point – By Stephen Losey , Patricia Kime , Steve Beynon and Konstantin Toropin (Military.com) / Aug 12 2021
The U.S. is sending thousands of additional troops into Afghanistan to assist with partially evacuating the embassy in Kabul, in response to the Taliban‘s rapid advance that places the nation’s capital at risk.
The decision serves as a reversal from months of gradual withdrawal as the military had sought to remove the last handful of troops from Afghanistan by the end of August and bring the nearly 20-year-old war to a close.
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a briefing with reporters Thursday that three infantry battalions — two Marine and one Army, totaling about 3,000 troops — already stationed in the Middle East will move to Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in the next 24 to 48 hours, augmenting the 650 U.S. troops remaining in Kabul.
“This is a temporary mission with a narrow focus,” Kirby said.
He declined to call the deployment a combat mission, but said the infantry battalions will bring weaponry including mortars, machine guns and troops’ personally carried weapons.
