Tue 23 Sep 2008, 13:26 GMT WASHINGTON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The United States will not have enough forces available to meet a request for more troops from NATO's top commander in Afghanistan until next spring at the earliest, the U.S. defense chief said on Tuesday.
"Without changing deployment patterns, without changing length of tours, we do not have the forces to send three additional brigade combat teams to Afghanistan at this point," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"My view is that those forces will become available probably during the spring and summer of 2009," he said.
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