WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Wednesday that a request for new troops from the U.S. commander in Afghanistan may have to be revised amid growing uncertainty inside the Obama administration over whether to escalate the American commitment to the eightyear war.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the troop request from U.S. and NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal will be delivered by week's end.
But Defense Secretary Robert Gates will not look to escalate the military mission in Afghanistan until President Barack Obama and his national security team "are ready to consider it," Morrell said.
Morrell also signaled that the number of troops that McChrystal will ask for - believed to be as high as 40,000 - could change after the report is received if the White House reverses its Afghanistan strategy.
"If there are adjustments, there may have to be adjustments made in terms of what's required of the mission if it changes," Morrell said.
He said the Obama administration is taking a new look at how best to achieve its longstated goal of defeating anddismantling al-Qaida.
In an interview with The New York Times, McChrystal denied that his assessment of resources needed in Afghanistan was causing a rift between the military and civilian leadership. "A policy debate is warranted," he said. "We should not have any ambiguities, as a nation or a coalition."
Earlier this year, the Pentagon began ramping up the war in Afghanistan, targeting extremist Taliban leaders to make sure the nation does not become a safe haven for al-Qaida.
But White House officials now are looking at sending in airstrikes and special operations forces to Pakistan, where al-Qaida leaders are believed to be hiding.
Morrell said targeting the Taliban in Afghanistan through a counterinsurgency mission "is the strategy and remains the strategy." He added: "There is a discussion taking place about whether it should continue to be the strategy or whether adjustments should be made."
Operating under the original strategy would require more combat troops, more trainers for Afghan security forces, more intelligence and surveillance forces, and more helicopters and other support, officials have said in recent weeks.
A senior Republican lawmaker in Congress recently said that McChrystal's troop request is expected to be as high as 40,000. The lawmaker spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue more freely.
Additionally, McChrystaladvisers Frederick Kagan, of the American Enterprise Institute, and Kimberly Kagan, of the Institute for the Study of War, this week released a report arguing for an additional 40,000 to 45,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year.
Already, Obama has approved increasing the number of U.S. soldiers, sailors, pilots and Marines in Afghanistan to 68,000 by the end of this year.
At the Pentagon, Morrell said McChrystal was still working under the original counterinsurgency mission in Afghanistan that Obama outlined in March. That's why, Morrell said, the general was sending in the troop request even though the strategy may change later.
"It is not your typical request for forces," Morrell said. "This is a more analytical look at the situation and what's needed and the risks associated with certain troop levels. And there's an ultimate recommendation."
That description appeared to confirm comments made privately in recent weeks by a number of officials who said McChrystal will lay out "force options." That is, he will give a range of troop numbers and explain what can be achieved with each. The officials said McChrystal also will advise his top pick among the choices.
Senior Taliban leaders, meanwhile, are using their sanctuary in Pakistan to stoke a widening campaign of violence in northern and western Afghanistan, seniorAmerican military and intelligence officials say.
American military and intelligence officials, who insisted on anonymity because they were discussing classified information, said the Taliban's leadership council, led by Mullah Muhammad Omar and operating around the southern Pakistani city of Quetta, was directly responsible for a wave of violence in once relatively placid parts of northern and western Afghanistan. A recent string of attacks killed troops from Italy and Germany.
Information for this article was contributed by Matthew Lee of The Associated Press and by Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti of The New York Times.
Front Section, Pages 1, 10 on 09/24/2009