More US marines head for Afghanistan

The officials said this deployment is not tied to the Trump administration's long-awaited new South Asia strategy, but instead fulfils a request from the commander on the ground.

Washington, Aug 8: The US is sending dozens more Marines to Afghanistan to beef up internal security in the war-torn country's Helmand province, according to a media report.

The US Central Command has agreed to send additional marines of less than 100, who would join the existing more than 300 marines assigned to Task Force Southwest, the NBC news reported.

The officials said this deployment is not tied to the Trump administration's long-awaited new South Asia strategy, but instead fulfils a request from the commander on the ground, Marine Brig Gen Roger Turner.

It was approved by Gen Joseph Votel at Central Command. The report, which was based on unnamed sources, was not confirmed by the Pentagon.

"The repositioning and movement of forces in the CENTCOM (area of responsibility), to include presently deployed Marines, happen at the discretion of the CENTCOM Commander," a spokesperson for Marine Corps Forces Central Command said.

"At this time there are no plans to deploy CONUS based Marines into Afghanistan," the spokesman said using the acronym for the Continental United States.

PTI