President Barack Obama said that he plans to send another 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. Obama said that this surge of U.S. forces into Afghanistan will begin to ebb in July 2011 – when U.S. and NATO forces and allies begin turning over security responsibility to Afghan security forces. “This danger will only grow if the region slides backwards and al-Qaida can operate with impunity,” Obama said.

“The Afghanistan-Pakistan review led by the president has provided me with a clear military mission and the resources to accomplish our task,” Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal said in a published statement. “The clarity, commitment and resolve outlined in the president’s address are critical steps toward bringing security to Afghanistan and eliminating terrorist safe havens that threaten regional and global security.”

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Chinese fishing vessels closed in on and maneuvered near the USNS Victorious in international waters in the Yellow Sea on May 1, Pentagon officials said yesterday. The Victorious is one of the five ocean surveillance ships that are part of the 25 ships in Military Sealift Command’s Special Mission Ships Program.

The vessel was conducting routine operations 170 miles off the coast of China when two Chinese fishing vessels approached, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

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The hybrid United Nations-African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Darfur, known as UNAMID, received a boost today from the arrival of 100 personnel from the second Egyptian Infantry Battalion. Another 100 troops from the battalion are slated to arrive tomorrow in the strife-torn western flank of Sudan as a meeting of the Tripartite Committee – comprising the Government of Sudan, the AU and the UN – is scheduled to take place for the first time in Darfur.

Under-Secretary-General for Field Support Susana Malcorra is expected to attend the meeting in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, which will examine ways to facilitate and expedite deployment of the AU-UN peacekeeping operation in the region.

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