South Asia News
White House denies Obama decision on Afghanistan
Nov 10, 2009, 17:32 GMT
Washington - The White House has strongly denied media reports saying that President Barack Obama was set to approve a massive buildup of US forces in Afghanistan.
CBS News and other US media, citing unnamed officials, reported late Monday that Obama was ready to provide most of the 40,000 additional troops requested by his top commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal.
'Anybody that tells you that the president has made a decision doesn't have - in all honesty - the slightest idea what they're talking about,' White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. 'The president has yet to make a decision.'
Obama for weeks has been holding high-level meetings with his top advisers to plot a new strategy for Afghanistan. The discussions have left four options for Obama to consider, Gibbs said, refusing to identify what they were.
Some advisers have pushed for a large increase in troops similar to the surge in Iraq to counter the growing strength of the Taliban in Afghanistan and a security environment that has sharply deteriorated in the last two years.
Obama is not expected to announce a decision for several weeks.
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