Obama aides accuse Pentagon of pressuring president over Afghanistan

Tensions between the White House and senior members of the US armed forces are rising over the toughest decision the president has faced in his first year. Senior military officials and Republicans have accused him of dithering over the troop request from Gen Stanley McChrystal, the US and Nato commander in Afghanistan.

McClatchy Newspapers and CBS News have reported that the president is set to announce between 34,000 and 40,000 extra US soldiers, numbers that would be at the upper end of Gen McChrystal's expectations.

The reports said he would commit three combat brigades as part of the buildup over the next 12 months, as well support troops, and an additional contingent for training Afghan security forces to combat the Taliban.

Two senior administration officials told CNN that they believed the information was being leaked by Pentagon sources trying to box in the president.

"People at the Pentagon are trying to force a certain outcome," said one official.

Underling the sensitivity of the issue at the White House, Gen James Jones, the national security adviser, made the unusual move of issuing a statement denying that the president had reached even a tentative conclusion.

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

With 68,000 Americans already in Afghanistan, the probable surge would bring US troops numbers to more than 100,000 and would commit the president to at least another three or four years of major operations.

Mr Obama's deliberations began in early September but his spokesman Robert Gibbs has admitted that he was unlikely to announce his decision until after his scheduled return from a trip to Asia on Nov 20.
Telegraph