WASHINGTON—U.S. military chiefs plan to present recommendations on troop strength and strategy in Afghanistan to President Barack Obama Friday, officials said, a sign White House deliberations may be nearing a conclusion.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General James Cartwright will be joined at the White House meeting by the top leaders of the Army, Marine Corps., Navy and Air Force.
"They will present those views to the president, collectively and individually," a Pentagon official said. "The chiefs ' views in regard to (troop) resources will be an important factor."
General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has recommended deploying an additional 40,000 troops next year, a figure that includes trainers to accelerate the expansion of the Afghan army.
The White House says Obama has yet to decide whether to send that many or a smaller number of troops.
U.S. forces have been stretched thin by long deployments in Iraq, and a troop surge in Afghanistan could hinge, in part, on whether Obama's timetable for drawing down U.S. forces in Iraq next year stays on schedule.
"One of the things they (the chiefs ) will answer for the president is the availability of resources should the president decide to send more forces," the Pentagon official said.
The official declined to discuss what the chiefs would recommend to the president.
Having ruled out troop reductions, Obama's advisers have started to consider how many more combat and training brigades could be sent and how soon, an administration official said.
A Hybrid Strategy
Top officials appeared to be laying the ground for a hybrid war strategy, with a counterinsurgency focused on protecting major Afghan population centers combined with a stepped up counterterrorism campaign in the countryside and along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
This strategy, the official said, would likely entail a troop increase, though not necessarily as large as the 40,000-troop surge recommended by McChrystal.
There are about 67,000 U.S. troops and 42,000 allied forces now in Afghanistan.
A focus on protecting population centers has been part of the counterinsurgency strategy that McChrystal has been advocating, and to a degree implementing, for months. He has shuttered several smaller outlying outposts as part of the shift.
A stepped up counterterrorism campaign, an idea advocated by Vice President Joe Biden, could rely increasingly on unmanned aerial drones and special operations forces that would hunt for Taliban and al Qaeda loyalists outside population centers, the administration official said.
Administration and congressional officials have said that one to two additional Marine brigades were under consideration for southern Afghanistan. A Marine brigade generally fields between 3,500 to 5,000 troops.
An additional brigade was also being weighed for eastern Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan.
