March 27 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama plans to announce on Friday the United States will deploy 4,000 extra troops to train Afghan security forces in a strategy to disrupt al Qaeda and roll back Taliban advances. (For main story click on [nN26525038]) The United States is already sending a combat aviation brigade of some 3,500 soldiers with more than 100 helicopters in the next six weeks, doubling the number of U.S. helicopters in the country. A further 8,000 U.S. Marines with another 50 helicopters will arrive over the next two months followed by an armoured infantry brigade of some 3,500 to 4,000 troops, the U.S. military says. Here is a breakdown of current national deployments in Afghanistan, which total 70,140 troops as of March 27: Country Troops United States 38,000 Britain 8,300 Germany 3,640 Canada 2,830 France 2,780 Italy 2,350 Netherlands 1,770 Poland 1,590 Australia 1,090 Romania 900 Spain 780 Denmark 700 Turkey 690 Czech Republic 580 Other countries 4,140 Source: Reuters; U.S. military; NATO (www.nato.int/isaf/docu/epub/pdf/isaf_placemat.pdf) (Compiled by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Paul Tait)
Newly graduate members of the Afghan community force stand in attention in Mehtar Lam, capital of the eastern Laghman province March 26, 2009. The first recruits graduated on Thursday to a ...
Afghanistan
