http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4BJ15K20081220"The United States is aiming to send 20,000 to 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan by the beginning of next summer, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Saturday...
...U.S. Army General David McKiernan, the commander of international forces in Afghanistan, has asked for the extra troops to combat a growing Taliban insurgency in the east and south of Afghanistan.
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has pledged a renewed focus on Afghanistan, where U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban government in late 2001 after the September 11 attacks.
The United States now has some 31,000 troops in Afghanistan..."