From Khaleej Times 
WASHINGTON — The United States is deploying heavily armored battle tanks to Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year war, in a further escalation of tactics against the Taliban, the Washington Post reported Friday.
The company of M1 Abrams tanks initially will be fielded in Helmand province where marines have been engaged in intense combat with heavily armed cells of Taliban fighters, the Post said, citing defense officials.
“The tanks bring awe, shock and firepower,” an officer familiar with the deployment plans told the Post. “It’s pretty significant.”
Deploying the tanks so late in the war could also be seen as a sign of desperation by many Afghans and Americans, the officer acknowledged.
But the tanks, equipped with a 120mm gun that can destroy a house more than a mile away, will allow ground forces to target insurgents at a greater distance and with greater precision than from any other military vehicle, the report said.
It said a tank round is more accurate than artillery and can be fired in less time than the wait for a fighter jet to drop a bomb.