Updated on
Summary
A request from the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan for additional troops has been transferred to President Barack Obama for review and has started working its way through the military chain of command, the Pentagon said. The request, which General Stanley McChrystal submitted to Defense Secretary Robert Gates last month, recommends adding up to 40,000 additional U.S. and NATO troops next year, according to congressional officials. Obama, who has launched a review of his six-month-old counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan, has not decided on whether to send more troops as recommended by McChrystal to try to reverse gains by a resurgent Taliban, officials said. Sending as many as 40,000 additional troops to Afghanistan could spark a backlash within the president's own Democratic Party. U.S. and NATO casualties have risen, and public support for the eight-year-old war has eroded. The request is now formally working its way up the chain of command, the U.S. chain of command and the NATO command, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters. He described the request, which Gates gave to Obama late last week, as informal because it had yet to work its way through the chain of command, a process that allows for vetting and comments from commanders. Morrell said it remained unclear when McChrystal's request would be discussed as part of the White House review of its strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Pentagon says Gates, who could sway Obama in favor of sending more troops, has yet to decide on whether they are needed.
