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More than 10,000 U.S. troops are headed to Afghanistan immediately, a senior U.S. defense official told FOX News on Tuesday.The Obama administration is expected to announce by the end Tuesday that it will send one Army brigade and a large Marines expeditionary force, the official said. An Army brigade usually consists of 3,500 troops.That would be a down payment on a larger influx of U.S. forces that has been widely expected this year. It would get a few thousand forces in place in time for the increase in fighting that usually comes with warmer weather and ahead of national midyear elections.A spokesman for Gen. David McKiernan told FOX News that they had already started to build camp barracks for the troops in anticipation of the announcement-knowing how sensitive the timing is given the spring fighting season.It is generally takes about three months for an Army brigade to deploy to the combat zone.This is the first time the new commander in chief has sent significant numbers of new forces into battle. Obama campaigned on a new strategy for the Afghanistan war, but he has taken his time to approve the new forces.In addition to the 10,000 troops, 6,000 were recently deployed, meeting half the request of U.S. commanders who have been contemplating sending up to 30,000 more soldiers to bolster the 33,000 already there.FOX News' Jennifer Griffin and Justin Fishel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
As in the days of Noah...
