Grant Suneson
Friendly Fire May Have Killed 2 US Army Rangers In Afghanistan
Two U.S. Army Rangers died in a raid in Afghanistan. Now the Pentagon is investigating if they were killed by friendly fire.
LEARN MOREPosted: 3:15 p.m. EDT Apr 29, 2017
Hundreds of U.S. Marines are heading to Afghanistan.
Around 300 members of the II Marine Expeditionary Force will help NATO's Resolute Support mission. The Marines will "train and advise key leaders within the Afghan National Army" and national police.
Resolute Support is a coalition effort to help stabilize Afghanistan and allow it to govern and defend itself.
The deployment focuses on the Helmand province, where the Taliban regained a lot of territory. The area has important smuggling lanes, as well as opium-producing poppy fields the terrorists use to fund their operations.
The move was announced in early January, before President Donald Trump took office. But Trump's administration is on board with sending more troops to Afghanistan.
In late April, the Army announced it will deploy 1,500 soldiers to Afghanistan some time in the summer.
At the end of President Barack Obama's term, the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan had decreased to around 8,400. But with these additions, that number will soon be back above 10,000.
