Obama to Deploy 2 More Brigades to Afghanistan

President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that he is sending two more troop brigades to Afghanistan.

Obama said in a statement that the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan “demands argent attention and swift action.”

“The Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan,” he said, “and al Qaeda supports the insurgency and threatens America from its safe-haven along the Pakistani border.”

The president said he has authorized deploying a Marine Expeditionary Brigade this spring and an Army Stryker brigade later in the summer. The brigades will total approximately 12,000 troops, according to news reports.

Obama campaigned on the need for a new strategy in Afghanistan. Once he took office, though, it became unclear what that strategy would be an how many additional troops it would entail.

Full statement after the jump.

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON AFGHANISTAN

There is no more solemn duty as President than the decision to deploy our armed forces into harm