Pentagon: Extra Afghanistan troops to stay into 2008

Members of the 82nd Airborne Division, and Afghan National Army forces search the house of a suspected Taliban militant on May 2 in the Ghazni province of Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon said Wednesday that it will maintain a heightened level of U.S. troops in Afghanistan well into 2008 by sending elements of the 101st Airborne Division as a replacement force.

The 101st Airborne's commanding general and his headquarters staff, plus the division's 4th Brigade, will deploy early next year, the Pentagon said. They will replace the 82nd Airborne Division's headquarters and its 4th Brigade.

Extra combat troops are in Afghanistan in anticipation of a tougher fight in coming months against the Taliban militants who have demonstrated a more organized, better trained resistance, particularly in the southern part of the country.

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