US tanks head for Afghanistan

The US is sending battle tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year war against the Taliban, the Washington Post reported today.

Citing unnamed officers and defence officials, the paper said General David Petraeus, the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, approved the move last month.

"The deployment of a company of M1 Abrams tanks, which will be fielded by the marines in the country's south-west, will allow ground forces to target insurgents from a greater distance – and with more of a lethal punch – than is possible from any other US military vehicle," the Post said.

The initial deployment called for 16 tanks to be used in parts of Helmand province, where marines and Taliban guerrillas were fighting, the paper said.

The 68-tonne tanks are propelled by a jet engine and equipped with a 120mm main gun that can destroy a house more than a mile away.

US forces are engaged in an intense campaign around Kandahar in the south, the Taliban heartland. US and Nato aircraft have dropped more bombs and fired more missiles in October (1,000 in total) than in any single month since 2001. In the districts around Kandahar, soldiers from the army's 101st airborne division have destroyed dozens of homes that were thought to be booby-trapped, and they increased the use of high-explosive line charges – a weapon used only sparingly in the past – to blast through minefields.

A US officer familiar with the decision said the tanks would be used initially in parts of northern Helmand province, where the marines have been engaged in intense fighting against Taliban fighters typically armed with assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and homemade bombs.

The initial deployment calls for about 16 tanks, but the overall number and area of operations could expand depending on needs, an officer told the Post. "The tanks bring awe, shock and firepower," the officer said. "It's pretty significant