By NNN-Antara
Washington : The Bush administration has finally approved a plan to send some 3,200 extra marines to Afghanistan, the Pentagon confirmed Tuesday.
Among the total, 2,200 will help fend off an upcoming spring offensive of Taliban in the south of the country, while the other 1,000 troops will help train Afghan security forces, Pentagon was quoted by Xinhuanet as saying in a statement.
The United States already has about 26,000 troops in Afghanistan, half of them under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
The latest decision came as U.S. commanders on ground have been saying for months that they need extra troops to fight the Taliban insurgency that has grown over the past two years.
The plan of sending extra troops to Afghanistan first surfaced last week.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates forwarded the plan to the White House Monday, which gave the final “go-ahead” Tuesday.