Washington - US President Barack Obama plans to huddle with top advisors on Afghanistan Wednesday as the discussion over future strategy continued to unfold in Washington. Wednesday marks the eighth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, launched by the US-led international coalition just weeks after the horrific al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.
The White House said late Tuesday that Obama would meet with his team of about 15, including US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of Defence Robert Gates and his top military commanders.
General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan who provoked controversy last week with his public advocacy in London for more troops, is to participate via videoconference.
On Tuesday, Obama met with Congressional lawmakers. Some Republicans are openly pushing for escalation of troop numbers as Obama tries to respond to the Taliban's growing momentum in the conflict.
There are already more than 60,000 US soldiers on the ground, and Obama is facing resistance from his own centre-left Democrats in Congress over deploying more forces.
The top US commander there, General Stanley McChrystal, publicly advocated for an added 40,000 troops last week in London.
The White House has insisted that Obama will carefully review all of his options and will not be rushed into such an important decision.
The Republicans on Tuesday warned that Obama cannot wait too long to come to a decision.
"It's pretty clear that time is not on our side," said Senator John McCain, Obama's rival for the presidency in the 2008 elections. "We need to act with deliberate haste."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama will reach a final decision in the coming weeks.
The US death toll in Afghanistan during the last year has been the highest since the war began on October 7, 2001, weakening support for it with the American public. The United States and NATO allies have been unable to defeat a resurgent Taliban, which has stepped up cross-border attacks from Pakistan.
Shortly after taking office, Obama ordered an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan, raising the American presence to more than 60,000. Gates has not said whether he supports more forces, but acknowledged that the failure to deploy more troops to Afghanistan earlier allowed the Taliban to get back into the fight.
"Because of our inability and the inability, frankly, of our allies, to put enough troops into Afghanistan, the Taliban do have the momentum right now," Gates said this week.
