Fed: Additional troops to Afghanistan begin to arrive

AAP General News (Australia)
04-17-2007
Fed: Additional troops to Afghanistan begin to arrive

SYDNEY, April 17 AAP - The first of 300 Australian special forces soldiers have arrived
in Afghanistan, with the full deployment to be completed by the end of May, Defence Minister
Brendan Nelson says.

Australia is deploying the extra soldiers to the country's south-central region ahead
of an expected new Taliban offensive.

Australia currently has some 500 troops based at Tarin Khowt in the country's Oruzgan
province, comprising an engineering group and their security detail.

Troop numbers will reach 950 by the middle of this year and peak at 1,000 by mid-2008.

"We've already sent a small number to establish the basic logistics for the new operations,"

Dr Nelson told reporters in Sydney.

"We will have progressive deployments over the next six weeks and we would expect them
to be fully deployed by the end of May."

Dr Nelson said he expects there will be two more "significant" send-offs of Australian
troops bound for Afghanistan.

AAP vpm/hn/sp

KEYWORD: AFGHAN AUST TROOPS

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