13,000 additional troops authorized for Afghanistan

AFP:

In an unannounced move, President Barack Obama is dispatching an additional 13,000 US troops to Afghanistan beyond the 21,000 he announced publicly in March, The Washington Post reported.

The additional forces are primarily support forces -- such as engineers, medical personnel, intelligence experts and military police -- the Post said, bringing the total buildup Obama has approved for the war-torn nation to 34,000.

"Obama authorized the whole thing. The only thing you saw announced in a press release was the 21,000," a defense official familiar with the troop-approval process told the daily.

The report, posted on the newspaper's website late Monday, came as Obama weighs a request from the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, for more combat, training and support troops, with several options including one for 40,000 more forces.

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This appears to relate to the initial increased authorization and the request for 40,000 more would be on top this this total. I have posted earlier on a smaller additional force of about 3,000 which would consist of engineers and others that deal with IEDs. It looks like the anti IED force is being increased.

The Washington Post story is here.