White House says no final decision yet on Afghanistan
Posted: 10 November 2009 1316 hrs

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WASHINGTON: The White House on Monday denied President Barack Obama had come to a decision on sending US reinforcements to Afghanistan amid mounting speculation he had made up his mind on a troop buildup.

"Reports that President Obama has made a decision about Afghanistan are absolutely false," James Jones, US national security adviser, said in a statement.

"He has not received final options for his consideration, he has not reviewed those options with his national security team, and he has not made any decisions about resources," said Jones, a retired general.

"Any reports to the contrary are completely untrue and come from uninformed sources."

Citing unnamed officials, McClatchy newspapers reported over the weekend that Obama was leaning towards sending more than 30,000 troops, and CBS television reported on Monday evening that the president had "tentatively" decided on deploying close to 40,000.

The reports cited three combat brigades as part of the buildup as well support troops, and an additional contingent for training Afghan security forces.

Defence officials acknowledge three combat brigades would be available for a possible troop buildup, including one drawn from the 10th Mountain Division based at Fort Drum in New York state.

That brigade was earlier scheduled to deploy to Iraq in January but has been told to stay put pending new orders.

A brigade from the 101st Airborne Division in Kentucky and a brigade of Marines would also be available. Army brigades are about 3,500 to 5,000 troops each, while a Marine brigade comes to about 8,000.

Speculation on Obama's decision has increasingly focused not on whether he will send more troops, but on how many forces he will deploy in response to a request for his commander for tens of thousands of reinforcements.

In the latest indication, Obama appeared to be moving towards a troop increase, the US Army chief of the staff, General George Casey, said on Sunday that he supported sending in reinforcements as requested by the commander, General Stanley McChrystal.

"I believe that we need to put additional forces into Afghanistan to give General McChrystal the ability to both dampen the successes of the Taliban while we train the Afghan security forces," Casey told NBC television's "Meet the Press".

Casey's view carries particular weight as he has voiced concern over the strain on the army from repeated deployments in two wars.

As commander in Iraq until 2007, Casey was sceptical of a "surge" of more troops, fearing it would provoke more unrest and impose a huge burden on a stretched military.

Some military officials have expressed frustration at the pace of Obama's deliberations that have stretched over two months, while Republicans in Congress have accused the president of dithering over McChrystral's troop request.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said earlier on Monday that Obama faces a "pivotal moment" as he weighs whether to send more troops and is unlikely to announce his decision until after his scheduled return from a trip to Asia on November 19.

After attending Tuesday's memorial service for the 13 killed in a shooting spree at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, Obama is due to meet his senior commanders on Wednesday again in the situation room to discuss Afghanistan.

As the top commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, McChrystal has asked for tens of thousands of additional troops to fight a deadly insurgency by Taliban militants and Al-Qaeda linked groups.

McChrystal has presented a number of options in a troop request to the president, including a maximum of 80,000 troops, another option of about 40,000 and a third scenario with some 20,000, according to US media.

There are more than 100,000 NATO-led troops now stationed in Afghanistan, including nearly 68,000 American forces.

In a grim assessment of the war that was leaked in September, McChrystal warned that the mission in Afghanistan would end in failure without more troops.

He also called for shifting focus on cities and villages instead of sparsely populated rural areas, and suggested demanding more accountability from the Kabul government in return for international aid.


- AFP/so