WASHINGTON — Recognizing the U.S. can neither win in Afghanistan nor succeed more broadly against al-Qaida without Pakistan's cooperation, President Barack Obama's war council is weighing a new role for Pakistan in the 8-year-old struggle in the region.
Obama planned sessions Thursday with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Oval Office to continue the intense discussion about the increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan. The White House scheduled another, larger war council session — a fifth of five announced — for Friday, when the focus may finally shift to just how many additional troops would be needed to execute Obama's vision for a war he inherited but now must execute.
The White House revealed that Obama has in hand — and has for nearly a week — the troop request prepared by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal. It is said to include a range of options, from adding as few as 10,000 combat troops to — McChrystal's strong preference — as many as 40,000.
A senior Pentagon official said Thursday that the Obama administration's delay in deciding on a strategy has, in turn, stalled European allies who are weighing how much more to contribute to Afghanistan.
Allies "who may be asked to vote for additional resources at some point are all waiting to see exactly what the U.S. decides to do in the wake of the McChrystal assessment," Assistant Defense Secretary Alexander Vershbow, who oversees international security affairs, told reporters. "In the meantime, they have their own domestic issues and each individual country, those countries that have suffered high casualties are obviously having to deal with some who are arguing that the cost of this war isn't worth it."
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