The US Department of Defense denied reports that Defense Secretary James Mattis decided to deploy 4,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan.
Pentagon spokesperson Dana S. White said on June 16:
“Secretary Mattis has made no decisions on a troop increase for Afghanistan. As he said throughout the week in testimony, the revised Afghanistan strategy will be presented to the president for his approval in the coming weeks. The president has delegated force management authority for Afghanistan to the secretary. The secretary will continue to follow the president’s guidance on our overall strategy. Any decisions about troop numbers will be made only after consultation with the interagency, the Afghan government, NATO allies and coalition partners.”
Department of Defense statement
The Associated Press first reported the deployment on Thursday.
