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THE STANS
Troop request on table as Obama weighs Afghan mission

NATO chief appeals for Russian support in Afghanistan
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged Russia Wednesday to help the alliance defeat insurgents in Afghanistan by training and equipping Afghan security forces. Rasmussen, at a press conference in Brussels, also urged NATO's European allies to step up troop contributions in the strife-torn country or risk damaging relations inside the world's biggest military alliance. "I think we should explore in a joint effort how we could further Russian engagement. We have to find pragmatic ways and means because basically Afghanistan is one of the areas in which we share interests," he said. "Russia could provide equipment for the Afghan security forces. Russia could provide training," he said. NATO and Russia have already reached an agreement on the transit of non-lethal supplies across Russian territory by rail for the operation in Afghanistan, where NATO is struggling to hold off a Taliban-led insurgency. Officials have suggested that this deal could be built upon to include other kinds of equipment, and Rasmussen said the agreement should be broadened. "This transit agreement could be expanded," he said. Six years after taking command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, NATO nations are struggling to contain the insurgents, backed by Al Qaeda and criminal gangs. The ISAF commander has recommended a new strategy to beat the insurgency, with protecting the Afghan people as its central pillar, and has called for more resources to carry out that mission. The strategy, which won the backing Wednesday of Rasmussen, is still being debated in Washington, but US President Barack Obama has already said that more troops will be sent. Rasmussen said that European allies must also step up. "There must continue to be a fair balance between what the United States is doing and what the other allies are contributing to this effort," he said. "It is important not only for this operation but for the long-term health of the transatlantic alliance that the non-US members find a way to contribute to the mission," he said. Failure to do so, he said, "would be damaging over the long term for NATO." The new strategy and resources for it will be the focus for talks between NATO defence ministers in Slovakia on October 22-23.
by Staff Writers
 Washington (AFP) Oct 7, 2009
 President Barack Obama moved closer to a crucial decision on the US-led war in Afghanistan after receiving a request from his commander to send in more troops, officials said Wednesday.

With the appeal for reinforcements in hand, Obama and his top advisers could start talking about committing yet more troops to the unpopular war later this week after a wide-ranging strategy review, the White House said.

Obama's next detailed briefing on the situation in the war, and the possible way forward, is back in the Situation Room on Friday.

As the NATO-led mission struggles to counter a spreading insurgency, Obama faces an appeal for up to 40,000 troops from the commander of US and allied forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal.

On Tuesday, the president told lawmakers he had no intention of reducing the US military force in Afghanistan, which will reach 68,000 troops by the end of this year, an administration official said on condition of anonymity.

The choice for Obama may lie somewhere between keeping roughly the current level of troops or opting for the commander's "all-in" approach that would inject tens of thousands of additional forces into the fight against Islamist insurgents.

Top security, military and political advisors met Wednesday in the secure White House Situation Room for a third in-depth meeting on Afghanistan, amid accusations from some Republican lawmakers that Obama was dithering.

The high-stakes war council comes amid rising public doubts over the mission, a spike in US and NATO casualties and an increasingly tenacious insurgency, eight years into what is now one of the longest US military operations on record.

In a move suggesting he may be close to making up his mind, the president asked for the troop request document last Thursday before setting off for Copenhagen, where he briefly met with McChrystal aboard his plane.

The troop request had been closely held by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to avoid leaks of the politically sensitive document, the Pentagon said.

A "formal request" for more troops vetted by the US and NATO military chain of command had not yet been presented to the president, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.

Gates had earlier said he would hold off on passing on McChrystal's request until a White House review of strategy was completed.

Requests for forces are usually reviewed by senior US military leaders before being passed on to the defense secretary and the president.

An earlier sensitive document from the commander -- an assessment of the war -- was leaked to the media last month, piling political pressure on Obama's deliberations.

"I think we wanted to avoid any opportunity for leaking of this before ... the president had an opportunity to see it himself," Morrell said.

A new poll Wednesday added to the political tumult whipped up around Obama's decision-making process.

The Quinnipiac University survey found 65 percent of voters willing to have US soldiers fight and possibly die to stamp out extremists operating in Afghanistan.

But only 38 percent of those asked said they would be willing to send more troops to Afghanistan.

Other polls have shown rising public anxiety over the war, launched to target Al-Qaeda and its Taliban hosts after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Wednesday is the eighth anniversary of former president George W. Bush's 2001 announcement of the start of air strikes in Afghanistan.

This year has been the deadliest of the war, with 394 foreign troops killed in 2009, including 236 Americans, according to an AFP count.

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THE STANS
US senators push compromise on Pentagon budget
 Washington (AFP) Oct 7, 2009
 A pair of top US senators introduced compromise legislation for next year's Pentagon budget on Wednesday, largely in line with White House recommendations, such as culling costly new F-22 Raptors. Democrat Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the top Republican on his panel, John McCain, unveiled their bill to mostly approve a more than 680-billion-dollar budget ... read more






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