'', ABC News, 3 July 2008

EXCERPT: "The Pentagon has extended the tour of 2,200 North Carolina-based Marines now serving in Afghanistan, after insisting for months the unit would come home on time. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is doing combat operations in the volatile south, will stay an extra 30 days and return home to Camp Lejeune in early November rather than October, Marine Col. David Lapan confirmed Thursday [3 July 2008]. Military leaders as recently as Wednesday stressed the need for additional troops in Afghanistan. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has repeatedly praised the work of the 24th MEU in fighting Taliban militants in Helmand Province. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, however, has repeatedly said he did not intend to extend or replace the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, calling their deployment there an extraordinary, one-time effort to help tamp down the increasing violence in the south."

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See also:
'', The Associated Press, 3 July 2008
'', The New York Times, 3 July 2008

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