The top US commander in Afghanistan will issue a request for more troops this week but US President Barack Obama will hold off making a decision as his advisers engage in an intense debate about war strategy, officials said on Wednesday.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates had no plans to present the troop request from General Stanley McChrystal to Obama until discussions on the Afghan mission were completed, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.
“I expect by the week’s end the secretary will have received General McChrystal’s resource request,” Morrell said. “But I want to make it perfectly clear that once he has it, he intends to hold onto it, until such time as the president and his national security team are ready to consider it.”
He said it was “simply premature to consider additional resources” until an assessment of the war effort submitted by McChrystal was fully reviewed.
The administration has sought to defend its deliberations on Afghanistan after the leaked assessment from McChrystal this week warned of disaster without more US troops.
Gates has yet to indicate his stance publicly, and where he comes down could play a crucial role in Obama’s final decision.
“His view ultimately on more troops is still a work in progress. His thinking is still evolving,” Morrell said.
The head of Central Command, General David Petraeus, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, have both endorsed the stark assessment from McChrystal, Petraeus confirmed on Wednesday.
Petraeus said “the most senior leadership” in the administration planned to hold several major meetings over the next two weeks to consider the way ahead in Afghanistan, where an increasingly violent insurgency is challenging the Kabul government’s authority in the south and east.
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