Fourteen
M1A1 Abrams tanks, are en route to Afghanistan and will
begin to arrive in January, Pentagon spokesman Dave Lapan
told reporters.
Gen. Richard
P. Mills, commander of Regional Command Southwest which
is responsible for security operations in Helmand and
Nimroz provinces, requested the tanks, said Lapan.
Gen. David
Petraeus, commander of the International Security Assistance
Force, and Gen. James N. Mattis, the commander of U.S.
Central Command, approved the request.
"All commanders
evaluate their situations and their operations, "
Lapan said. "The commander in RC-Southwest determined
that tanks would be useful in the fight he has because
of the increased mobility, the increased firepower, because
of the optics the tanks have."
Lapan
emphasized that sending tanks to Afghanistan does not
represent an escalation of the conflict there.
The Washington Post said on Friday that the U.S. decision
to send tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the
nine-year war represents "a shift that signals a
further escalation in the aggressive tactics that have
been employed by American forces this fall to attack the
Taliban."
