WASHINGTON - The United States hopes to get all of the 7,000 troops being pledged by allies into Afghanistan in the first half of 2010, a senior Pentagon official said Monday.

In terms of the force flow, the goal is to get them all in by, in the first half, if possible, of 2010, Michele Flournoy, U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, told a conference in Washington.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Eric Beech)

Afghanistan