US sending another 1,000 troops to Afghanistan

The United States is sending another 1,000 troops to Afghanistan, raising the US deployment to roughly 6,000.

A defense official tells The Associated Press on Sunday that 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne are going directly to Kabul instead of going to Kuwait as a standby force.

The defense official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a deployment decision not yet announced by the Pentagon.

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On Saturday, President Joe Biden authorised the US troop deployment to rise to roughly 5,000 by adding about 1,000.

Since then, the Taliban have entered the capital of Kabul and Afghanistan's president has fled the country.

Helicopters have been evacuating personnel from the US Embassy, and several other Western missions also are preparing to pull their people out.