16 seconds ago 2009-12-04T15:15:02-08:00
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AFP) – President Barack Obama will discuss four strategic options on Afghanistan with top advisors on Wednesday, as he mulls whether to deploy thousands more troops, the White House said.
Obama will meet senior military brass and top national security advisors in the latest meeting of his exhaustive review of Afghanistan strategy, ahead of a fateful decision on troop numbers for the eight-year war.
"The president will have an opportunity to discuss four options with his national security team tomorrow," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday.
Gibbs also hit out at a flurry of reports and leaks variously suggesting that Obama had agreed to send 34,000 to 40,000 more troops to the unpopular war, after commander General Stanley McChrystal warned US strategy was failing.
"Anybody that tells you that the president has made a decision... doesn't have in all honesty, the slightest idea what they are talking about," Gibbs said.
"The president is yet to make a decision."
Obama is not expected to make a final choice on his options in Afghanistan until at least the end of next week when he returns from a trip to Asia.
