U.S. deploys armored tanks to Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- The United States sent armored tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the war, signaling an escalation in the fight against the Taliban, officials said.

Defense Department officials said the deployment of the heavily armored M1 Abrams tanks to the country's southwest region will allow ground forces to target insurgents from further away and with a more lethal punch, The Washington Post reported Friday.

The overall counterinsurgency strategy stresses using troops to protect Afghan civilians from insurgents. Statistics released by NATO in Kabul and comments by senior commanders indicate the operations in the past two months have been more intense than at any other time since 2001, the Post said.

Military officials said the combination of Special Operations night raids, airstrikes and the use of explosives have been key to improving security around Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold targeted for coalition operations this fall.

"We've taken the gloves off, and it has had huge impact," one senior official told the Post.

Some of the methods, particularly the raids, drew criticism from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who told the Post last week the missions undermined support for the war. Senior U.S. military officials counter that the raids and other aggressive measures have been effective in driving out the insurgency.

The tank deployment provides Marines with a new tool to expose pockets of insurgent fighters, the official said. A tank round is more accurate than artillery and provides a faster response than air support, he said.