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The United States is to ask NATO to deploy more troops to Afghanistan – an additional 1000 on top of the some 3000 U.S. forces to be sent there.
U.S. ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison said the troops are being sent to fight the Taliban, with the additional forces a part of President Donald Trump's new strategy to fight the militants.
Trump had previously called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, saying that while his "original instinct was to pull out," he was later convinced by his national security team to take on the group.
The Taliban has since warned they will be stepping up their attacks until the United States and NATO members fully withdraw from the country, after more than 16 years of occupation.
The United States already has about 8,400 troops in Afghanistan, with NATO troops totalling another 5000.
The U.S. first led an invasion of Afghanistan under former U.S. President George W. Bush in the so-called “War on Terror” following the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York.
Bush’s predecessor, former U.S. President Barack Obama, had promised to end one of the longest conflicts in U.S. history, but had failed to do so.
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