But Americans, still reeling from last week's shooting at a Texas military base, will have to wait a few weeks yet before the commander-in-chief unveils one of the most important decisions of his presidency.

Obama leaves Thursday for his first presidential tour of Asia with the question of what course to pursue against the bloody insurgency in Afghanistan certain to dominate his talks.

Four options were on the table for the meeting at 1930 GMT Wednesday in the hi-tech White House situation room and set to last about two hours.

"The president will have an opportunity to discuss four options with his national security team tomorrow," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.

He acknowledged the US policy review was at a pivotal stage, but said the troop decision would likely come after the Asia trip.

"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," he said.

Before Wednesday's meeting, Obama joined commemorations to honor American troops killed in wars around the world, and pledged to the military "America will not let you down."

"Our service men and women have been doing right by America for generations. And as long as I am commander in chief, America will do right by them," he said at a ceremony in the Arlington national military cemetery.

He was to be joined later at the White House by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Admiral Mike Mullen.

Top US and NATO commander General Stanley McChrystal, who has called for an extra 40,000 troops on the ground, was also expected to participate in what will be the eighth such war council since August.

According to the New York Times, one of the options is McChrystal's proposal which would significantly boost the 68,000 troops already in Afghanistan.

Another proposal is to send in 30,000 extra troops, while a third envisages ramping up the numbers by between 20,000 to 25,000, the Times said.

A fourth option had been added recently, but administration officials refused to spell out any details of troop numbers.

Gates, a Republican who served under the previous administration and was kept in post by Obama, is said to favor the option of 30,000 extra troops, along with Clinton and Mullen, the Times reported.

But the US president is said to have voiced concerns about how the governments in Afghanistan and Pakistan would support the US effort.

"I have an obligation as commander-in-chief to make sure that whatever investments we make are leading to a safer United States," Obama told ABC Monday.

The US strategy has "to make sure that Afghans are carrying the burden of their own security, that we have an effective partnership with Pakistan that is working to achieve our goals in the entire region and that... issues of corruption are dealt with," Obama said.

One official told the Times: "He's simply not convinced yet that you can do a lasting counterinsurgency strategy if there is no one to hand it off to."

Other participants such as Biden, whose son is on a tour of duty in Iraq, and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel appear more reluctant to deploy extra troops.

The decision has been complicated by the fraud-tainted elections in Afghanistan which saw President Hamid Karzai re-elected to a second term.

Karzai, who was installed as Afghan leader following the 2001 ouster of Taliban militants by a US-led invasion, has largely fallen from favor amid persistent allegations of corruption.

Public opposition to the war is also growing, with some 800 soldiers having lost their lives in Afghanistan and the number of casualties rising. October was the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan since 2001.

Last week's bloody rampage at the Fort Hood base in Texas, blamed on a Muslim army psychiatrist, has also highlighted the strains facing US troops amid repeated tours in war zones.

Most Americans oppose sending in more troops, a poll said Wednesday, with 56 percent of respondents to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation saying they were against the move.

Only 40 percent of those surveyed expressed support for the conflict, with 58 percent opposed.

earlier related report
Obama down to four options on Afghanistan
Aboard Air Force One (AFP) Nov 10, 2009 - US President Barack Obama is down to four strategic options as he nears a decision on whether to plunge thousands more troops into the Afghan war, the White House said on Tuesday.

Obama will sift through the four approaches on Wednesday in his latest meeting with top military brass and his national security team, as his exhaustive review of the US posture in Afghanistan draws to a close.

"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.

Gibbs, speaking as the president flew to a memorial service for 13 people killed in last week's rampage at Fort Hood army base in Texas, declined to offer details of the various options.

But he mocked a flurry of reports and leaks suggesting Obama had already decided to send up to 40,000 more troops to war, after commander General Stanley McChrystal warned in September 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 has 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, though the White House says the review is at a "pivotal" stage.

The sourcing of leaked reports carried by several US news organizations was unclear, though some observers have suggested some constituencies within the Pentagon may be trying to lean on Obama.

"I don't know that it's annoying as much as it is generally amusing to watch somebody or some group of people decide they know what only the president knows," Gibbs said.

"It keeps me busy and it's in some ways fun to watch two reports that contradict each other be reported virtually simultaneously."

The White House has said that troop numbers are only one factor of Obama's review, which is designed to assess the entire US posture towards Afghanistan and Pakistan and political developments in both nations.

McClatchy newspapers reported over the weekend that Obama was leaning toward sending more than 30,000 troops, and CBS television reported late Monday that the president had "tentatively" decided on deploying close to 40,000.

The reports cited three combat brigades as part of the buildup as well as support troops, and a contingent for training Afghan security forces.

Defense officials acknowledge three combat brigades would be available, including one from the 10th Mountain Division based at Fort Drum, New York.

That brigade was earlier scheduled to deploy to Iraq in January but has been told to stay put pending new orders.

A brigade from the 101st Airborne Division in Kentucky and a brigade of Marines would also be available. Army brigades are about 3,500 to 5,000 troops each, while a Marine brigade comes to about 8,000.

Some military officials have expressed frustration at the pace of Obama's deliberations over two months, while Republicans have accused the president of dithering.

McChrystal has asked for tens of thousands of additional troops to fight a deadly insurgency by Taliban militants and Al-Qaeda linked groups.

He presented a number of options in a troop request to the president, including a maximum of 80,000 troops, another option of about 40,000 and a third scenario with some 20,000, according to US media.

There are more than 100,000 NATO-led troops now stationed in Afghanistan, including nearly 68,000 American forces.

In another sign a decision may be near, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Berlin Monday that Washington will give Afghan President Hamid Karzai a set of measures to root out the corruption.

Clinton signaled the Obama administration's growing impatience with Karzai, declared the victor of a fraud-marred election, when she said the steps are needed to leave "no doubt" as to what Washington expects from the relationship.

Massive fraud uncovered after the August 20 presidential election highlighted corruption in Afghanistan's government and complicated Obama's decision on future strategy.

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