Obama sets Afghan, Pakistan goals, waits on troops

By Susan Cornwell and Adam Entous

WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama set out broad goals on Wednesday for boosting the ability of Pakistan and Afghanistan to fight militants, but said a decision on whether to send more U.S. forces would take time.

The White House delivered its long-awaited objectives to lawmakers ahead of an expected request by Army General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, for additional forces to counter a resurgent Taliban insurgency.

Influential Republican Senator John McCain said tens of thousands of additional troops may be needed.

But a troop request already faces a groundswell of doubt within Obama's Democratic Party, which controls Congress, and opinion polls show Americans are becoming more skeptical about the nearly eight-year-old war.

"We need to examine a whole bunch of things ... before we start making any decision on more troops," said Democratic Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Topping Obama's objectives, according to a draft document obtained by Reuters, was improving Pakistan's counterinsurgency capabilities and building up Afghan security forces so that the role of the United States could be reduced.

But the document offered few specifics and set no target dates. It said the administration would assess its progress against the goals by the end of next March.

At least one of the Obama administration's immediate objectives -- boosting Afghanistan's ability to hold "credible elections" -- appeared to have been missed. Last month's Afghan presidential poll has been beset by widespread allegations of fraud. [ID:nISL225975]

Under pressure from fellow Democrats to put off any U.S. troop increases until the Afghan army has been expanded, Obama told reporters at the White House that "there is no immediate decision pending on resources."

"You have to get the strategy right and then make the determination about resources," Obama said one day after the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said more troops would probably be needed and that he expected a request from McChrystal in a couple of weeks.

With insurgent violence on the rise, the United States has almost doubled its number of troops in Afghanistan this year to 62,000 and that is expected to grow by another 6,000 by year's end.

EVALUATING PROGRESS

The three-page "Evaluating Progress in Afghanistan-Pakistan" document lists the Obama administration's No. 1 objective as disrupting "terrorist networks in Afghanistan and especially Pakistan to degrade any ability they have to plan and launch international terrorist attacks."

The administration also wants to see "progress towards Pakistan's civilian government and judicial system becoming stable and free of military involvement," the document said.

For Afghanistan, Obama set the primary goal of developing "increasingly self-reliant Afghan security forces that can lead the counterinsurgency and counterterrorism fight with reduced U.S. assistance," but he set no timetable.

Underscoring tensions with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the document called for "demonstrable action by government against corruption." A similar goal was set for Pakistan.

McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, urged Obama to carry out a troop "surge" in Afghanistan similar to the one ordered by then-President George W. Bush in Iraq in 2007.

He said he thought tens of thousands more U.S. troops would be needed in Afghanistan to succeed.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called for NATO allies and the Afghan government to share the burden by providing more troops to fight alongside the Americans.

Underscoring the political challenge facing Obama, Democratic Senator Russ Feingold renewed his call for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

"I think it is very important that we have a public discussion and a conclusion at some point in the not too distant future about when the troops will come home," Feingold said. (Additional reporting by Caren Bohan, Thomas Ferraro, Andrew Gray and Phil Stewart; Writing by Adam Entous; Editing by Eric Beech) Link...