WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has announced it will keep a Navy aircraft carrier in the Middle East to provide protection for the more than 10,000 American and coalition troops withdrawing from Afghanistan in coming weeks. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved a recommendation that the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier remain in the region. He said Air Force bombers also are being deployed to that area to help protect the withdrawal. The moves back up Pentagon officials’ public assurances that U.S. forces will be prepared to meet whatever resistance the Taliban might present.
