US sends more troops to Afghanistan

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Dear list members, The following story is of interest. About 3,200 US troops will go to Afghan-Pakistani border in spring. Those troops had been training for Iraq; new troops will replace them there. A general said he needed the troops to combat an expected Taliban offensive in the Spring. The deployment will keep U.S. troop level at about 27,000. The Venus-Jupiter-Saturn period is operating in the SAMVA USA chart. Transit Jupiter, currently at 22° 11' Scorpio, is almost within aspect orb of transit Saturn at 27° 19' Cancer in retrograde motion. The aspect will join tomorrow and then intensify in coming weeks and months. Transit Jupiter is already within orb of its conjunction with natal Saturn at 26° 46' in Scorpio and H5 and this aspect will also intensify. According to the SAMVA USA chart, US troops are at risk from intensifying

military conflict this spring. Best wishes, Thor U.S. sending more troops to thwart Taliban offensive POSTED: 2009 GMT (0409 HKT), February 14, 2007 From Mike MountCNN WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Expecting the resurgent Taliban to stage a spring offensive, the U.S. military is moving a brigade of troops into Afghanistan, instead of Iraq, Pentagon officials said Wednesday. About 3,200 soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade base in Vicenza, Italy, will go this spring to the porous eastern Afghan border with Pakistan. The soldiers will replace the already extended 3rd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division. The 173rd already was training to deploy to Iraq, Pentagon officials said. Moving the 173rd into Afghanistan will have no effect on the forces scheduled to deploy to Baghdad because commanders will identify other troops to replace the brigade, the officials said. The new troops will keep the level of U.S. forces in Afghanistan at about 27,000, the highest number of U.S. troops there since the October 2001

invasion. The decision to move the troops came last month when Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited the then-commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry. The general told Gates he needed the additional soldiers to deal with rising violence in the country and to combat an expected Taliban assault in the spring. Eikenberry extended the 3rd Brigade's tour by 120 days, until another unit could be identified to replace them. There is no official date set for moving the brigade into Afghanistan, and there has been no word on what units will replace the 173rd in Iraq. About 50,000 U.S. and NATO troops are currently inside Afghanistan.

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