MILITARY: North Carolina unit likely to get Afghanistan assignment

By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer

A North Carolina-based Marine battalion is expected to fill a fall assignment to Afghanistan as part of an overall increase in U.S. forces in that country.

An official announcement naming the battalion should come any day, according to a Marine Corps spokesman at the Pentagon.

The troops are widely believed to be a contingent of Marines from North Carolina's Camp Lejeune, whose previously announced deployment to Iraq in about six weeks will shift to Afghanistan.

There have been no large-scale Iraq or Afghanistan assignments announced for locally based troops for the rest of this year or next.

President Bush's decision to send an approximately 1,000-member battalion to Afghanistan answered commanders' requests that a Marine contingent placed there in April be replaced when those forces complete their assignment in November.

Bush also said he was ordering an approximately 3,500-troop Army brigade to Afghanistan early next year.

About 25,000 Marines are now serving in Iraq, roughly half from Camp Pendleton's I Marine Expeditionary Force, which has had the primary responsibility for security in the Anbar province west of Baghdad since the beginning of the year.

Some of those troops have completed their seven-month deployments and returned home and increasing numbers are in the process of beginning their return.

Spokesmen at Camp Pendleton, Miramar Marine Corps Air Station and Marine Air Ground Combat Center troops at Twentynine Palms said Tuesday they know of no substantial deployments in the coming months. Having the bulk of those troops home for at least the next several months is welcome news for family members and merchants.

The Pentagon announced earlier this year that the II Marine Expeditionary Force would replace the I Marine Expeditionary Force in the Anbar province next year. The upcoming shift of one battalion to Afghanistan means that Anbar will have around 23,000 Marines stationed there next year.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway and other service officials have suggested that level should come down and that Afghanistan is where the Marines should now be focusing their efforts.

Conway has called for shifting the bulk of his troops there, saying the heavy fighting in Iraq has long since subsided, particularly in the Anbar region where the U.S. transferred primary security responsibility to the Iraqis last week.

U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have said they need at least 10,000 more troops to deal with a resurgent Taliban and al-Qaida, which has conducted more attacks this year than any since the invasion of that country in 2001.

On Wednesday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the House Armed Services Committee he was increasingly worried about Afghanistan.

"Frankly, we are running out of time," Adm. Mike Mullen told the committee. "I'm not convinced we're winning in Afghanistan. I am convinced we can."

As Mullen was appearing before Congress, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he planned to order his troops out of Afghanistan in 2011. Canada currently has about 2,500 troops stationed in the country's southern region.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.

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