NATO to Increase Size, Scope of Deployment
From Times Wire Reports
NATO defense ministers agreed to expand the alliance’s peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan and will send troops into the western part of the country, Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.
The decision was made after Italy, Spain and Lithuania agreed to send hundreds of troops under NATO command to Herat and three other cities.
The deployment will include 500 fresh troops and 400 from elsewhere in Afghanistan. NATO currently operates only in Kabul and the country’s north with a total force of 8,400.
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