As more and more Americans sour towards the eight-year war, even as expectations mount of a deeper US role in the conflict, Obama promised a painstaking review of strategy before taking such life and death decisions.

Obama spoke as his aides presented lawmakers with a set of proposed benchmarks to measure progress in the US-led fight against an increasingly violent insurgency, amid growing anxiety over the war in Congress.

"My determination is to get this right. I'm going to take a very deliberate process in making those decisions," Obama said after talks at the White House with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"I just want to be absolutely clear, because there's been a lot of discussion in the press about this, that there is no immediate decision pending on resources.

"You don't make determinations about resources, and certainly you don't make determinations about sending young men and women into battle without having absolute clarity about what the strategy is going to be.

"We are going to proceed and make sure that we don't put the cart before the horse."

Obama is studying classified recommendations on future strategy by war commander General Stanley McChrystal, who is widely expected to submit a separate formal request to increase the 62,000-strong US force.

He promised that before drawing any conclusions he would seek input from a broad range of government security advisors as well as the US military and its allies in the international force in Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services committee that more soldiers would likely be needed to subdue the Taliban.

"A properly resourced counterinsurgency probably means more forces and, without question, more time and more commitment to the protection of the Afghan people and to the development of good governance," said Mullen.

The draft list of benchmarks prepared by the administration covers levels of violence, the volume of narcotics trafficking and more subjective criteria such as public perceptions of the Kabul government and its police and judiciary.

It recommended monitoring the level of insurgent-related violence, public perceptions of security, the proportion of the population living in areas under insurgent control, and the percentage of key roads under government control.

The administration will report to Obama, Congress and the American public on the benchmark assessments every three months.

Under the objective of promoting a more capable Afghan government, one benchmark cites the Afghan government's "ability to hold credible elections in 2009 and 2010."

"Well, guess what -- that one is not going to get a glowing rating," said an official on condition of anonymity.

The August 20 presidential elections in Afghanistan were plagued by claims of massive fraud, with European Union observers branding 1.5 million votes as suspicious.

The disputed polls have piled pressure on Obama as he faces mounting skepticism from allies in Congress, including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has warned there is little support among lawmakers for more troop deployments.

Powerful Senate Armed Services committee chairman, Democrat Carl Levin, has suggested that Washington should accelerate the pace and scope of training of Afghan forces before sending more US troops.

From the other side, Republicans are warning Obama is acting too slowly.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denied the president was stalling in order to avoid confronting Congress with a divisive debate on more troop deployments while he is trying desperately to win passage of his landmark health reform bill.

Obama must also keep a close eye on weakening public support for a war that he maintains was neglected by the previous administration of former president George W. Bush.

earlier related report
Obama team presents benchmarks for Afghan war
President Barack Obama's aides Wednesday gave lawmakers a list of benchmarks to measure progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan, pledging an honest and dispassionate study of US war strategy.

The list of metrics, presented in a closed-door session of a Senate committee, measure progress towards objectives laid down by Obama in a major speech in March setting a new strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The administration, working on the basis of assessments by interagency teams, US personnel abroad, US intelligence agencies and outside sources will present a report every three months to the president, Congress and the public.

"Here we have an administration that is designing metrics, that is embracing the idea of accountability," a senior Obama administration official said on condition of anonymity.

"We have taken this seriously, there is a process in place and we are going to see where it leads us," the official said.

The metrics were presented amid rising pressure from Obama's allies in Congress to prove that the Afghan mission can be successful, despite worsening security and rising combat deaths among foreign troops.

The process will take place alongside military assessments contained in General Stanley McChrystal's strategic review of the war, and a possible follow-on request for more combat troops.

The document begins by repeating the goal of the war strategy as declared by Obama: "to disrupt, dismantle and defeat" Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

For gauging success in defeating the Afghan insurgency, the benchmarks include the level of insurgent-related violence, "public perceptions of security," the percent of the population living in areas under insurgent control and the percent of "key lines of communication under government control."

For developing "self-reliant" Afghan security forces, metrics include the level of trust and confidence among Afghans in the army and police, the "effectiveness" of joint Afghan and NATO operations and the "level of corruption" within Afghan security forces.

Under the objective of promoting a more capable Afghan government, indicators include Kabul's ability to collect revenues, public perceptions of the country's courts, action against corruption, support for human rights, interdiction of "high-profile narco-traffickers" and efforts to carry out reconciliation at national, regional and local levels.

In Pakistan, objectives including measuring efforts to enhance stable civilian government, the fight against insurgents and the work of the international community to stabilize the country.

One section of the assessment which evaluates progress against terror networks in Afghanistan and Pakistan will be classified and not made public.

Another benchmark under the same objective cites the Afghan government's "ability to hold credible elections in 2009 and 2010."

Recent presidential elections in Afghanistan were plagued by claims of massive fraud, with European Union observers branding 1.5 million votes from the election as suspicious.

"Well, guess what -- that one is not going to get a glowing rating," said the official.

Each objective under the benchmarks will be the responsibility of an official or team of officials in Washington from the State Department, Defense Department and the intelligence community.

A parallel assessment team will be set up to ensure that the administration teams are not painting an overly rosy picture of progress, and tasked with developing a separate report, the official said.

The so-called "red team" will be drawn up by the Director of National Intelligence.

The official explained the rationale behind the system.

"There is a chance here that we are going to be kidding ourselves because after all this a high priority for the Obama administration."

earlier related report
Italy wants to bring home troops after Afghan attack
Italy wants to cut troops in Afghanistan but only with agreement from its NATO partners, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday, after six Italian soldiers were killed in a daring suicide attack.

"We are keen to bring our boys home as soon as possible," Berlusconi said as he arrived for a European Union summit in Brussels.

However, he added, "this is something that we cannot decide alone, because otherwise we would affect the confidence of other countries present there."

A massive suicide car bomb ripped into NATO vehicles killing six Italian soldiers and 10 Afghan civilians on Thursday in one of the deadliest attacks on Western troops in Kabul, officials said.

The bomber struck just after midday about 1.5 kilometres (one mile) from the US embassy on the busy airport road, destroying at least one vehicle of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in one of the worst attacks on NATO and US-led troops serving in Afghanistan.

"This is an unhappy day for Italy," the Italian leader told reporters. "We are all convinced that we have to get out of Afghanistan as soon as possible."

"We had foreseen a big reduction of in our presence and we are going to carry on in that sense," said Berlusconi after Umberto Bossi, head of Italy's anti-immigrant Northern League, urged the government to "bring them all home for Christmas."

The presence of so many Italian troops in Afghanistan has become increasingly controversial in Italy and has placed a major strain on Berlusconi's governing right-wing coalition.

A demonstration in Italy against Berlusconi's hold over the media scheduled for Saturday was also cancelled.

In Rome, Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa called the perpetrators "cowardly and despicable attackers" but promised that "they will not stop us and that our mission will continue."

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini also pledged that Italy would continue to be a part of the NATO force in Afghanistan where it has some 3,250 troops.

"The Italian soldiers paid a high price for the freedom and security of Afghanistan, Italy and Europe and we must stay in that country," he said.

But Frattini acknowledged that more work was needed to win over support from ordinary Afghan people.

"We must work harder to win the hearts of the Afghans, those we consider our allies, so as to isolate the terrorists."

Italy's lower house of parliament held a one-minute silence in memory of the soldiers while Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi addressed condolences to their families.

Pope Benedict XVI was said to be saddened by the "horrible" attack in Kabul that also killed 10 Afghan civilians, his spokesman said.

"The pope expresses his sorrow, prays for the victims, and sends his thoughts to the families of the wounded and all people affected by this horrible attack," spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told AFP.

"Let efforts for peace continue, despite this terrible violence," he added.

Three other Italian soldiers were also wounded in the attack on two armoured vehicles about 1.5 kilometres (one mile) from the US embassy gates on the busy airport road.

The deaths bring to 21 the number of Italian troops who have died in the country since 2004.

Italy's National Olympic Committee said a minute of silence would be observed at weekend football matches in mourning for the dead.

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