KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Approximately 300 United States Marines will be deployed to train, advise and assist Afghan security forces in the southern province of Helmand.

A Resolute Support Mission spokesman, U.S. Navy Capt. Bill Salvin in Afghanistan, said Sunday that the deployment will take place in the spring.

Salvin said in a statement that the marines are scheduled to deploy for approximately nine months and will be working with the Afghan National Army's 215th Corps and the 505th Zone National Police.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yusouf Ahmadi, in a statement sent to media, said the deployment is meant solely to boost the spirits of demoralized Afghan troops in hopes they can hold out against the Taliban until the spring.