Obama: No 'immediate' decision on more troops to Afghanistan

By Stephen Collinson (AFP)

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama warned he would make no "immediate" decision on more troops for Afghanistan Wednesday, a day after the top US military officer said extra US soldiers would probably be needed.

As more and more Americans sour on the eight-year war, even as expectations mount of a deeper US role in the conflict, Obama promised a painstaking review of strategy before taking life and death decisions.

"My determination is to get this right. I'm going to take a very deliberate process in making those decisions," Obama said after talks in the White House with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"I just want to be absolutely clear, because there's been a lot of discussion in the press about this, that there is no immediate decision pending on resources.

"You don't make determinations about resources, and certainly you don't make determinations about sending young men and women into battle without having absolute clarity about what the strategy is going to be.

"We are going to proceed and make sure that we don't put the cart before the horse."

Obama is currently studying classified recommendations on future strategy by war commander General Stanley McChrystal, who is widely expected to submit a separate formal request to increase the 62,000-strong US force.

He promised to seek input from a broad range of US national security advisors in his government, the US military and allies in the international force in Afghanistan before drawing conclusions

On Tuesday, Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services committee that more soldiers would likely be needed to subdue the Taliban.

"A properly resourced counterinsurgency probably means more forces and, without question, more time and more commitment to the protection of the Afghan people and to the development of good governance," said Mullen.

The president is facing increasing pressure from allies in Congress, including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has warned that there is little support among lawmakers for more troop deployments.

Powerful Senate Armed Services committee chairman Carl Levin has suggested that Washington should accelerate the pace and scope of training of Afghan forces before sending more US troops.

From the other side, Republicans who argue that more troops are badly needed in Afghanistan following escalating violence, warn that Obama is acting too slowly.

"That is really, really bothersome," said Republican Senator John McCain, Obama's defeated 2008 presidential election opponent.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs meanwhile denied on Wednesday that the deliberate pace was designed to avoid confronting Congress with a divisive debate on more troop deployments while Obama is trying desperately to win passage of his landmark health reform bill.

Obama must also keep a weather eye on weakening public support for a war, which he maintains was neglected by the previous administration of former president George W. Bush.

Support for the conflict slipped from 42 percent in late August to 39 percent, while opposition edged upwards from 57 percent to 58 percent, according to a survey by CNN television and Opinion Research Corporation.

As he marked the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks in 2001 last week, Obama sought to bolster public support for the US struggle against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

"Let us renew our resolve against those who perpetrated this barbaric act and who plot against us still," Obama said.

"In defense of our nation, we will never waver," Obama said.

Obama's job in selling any deeper US involvement in the Afghan war is also complicated by claims of massive vote fraud in the yet-to-be-confirmed election victory of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

European Union observers branded 1.5 million votes from the election as suspicious, sparking a furious reaction from Karzai. Link...