A deployment plan was submitted last week to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, but he has not yet signed off on it, said a senior military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"We believed two weeks ago that we would get something pretty quick," the official said. "Now we are waiting."

"We've got everything packaged and presented to the decision makers. We've made our recommendation," the official said.

But the official said the new administration "has signalled it wants to look at the (strategy) reviews under way."

The new US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, arrived in Islamabad on Monday at the start of his first trip to the region.

US combat brigades must undergo at least two to three months of specialized training for Afghanistan before being deployed.

The Pentagon plans to deploy an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan over the next year to 18 months, nearly doubling the size of its force there.

Currently there are 37,000 US troops in Afghanistan, on top of another 70,000 international troops, serving in either a NATO-led force or a US-led coalition.

Gates said at the end of January that the United States would send three brigades, each numbering between 3,500 and 4,000 troops, by mid-summer.

A Pentagon spokesman would not say deployment orders have been delayed, but acknowledged that the White House might decide to button down its strategy review before giving the go ahead, something the Pentagon appeared to rule out a week ago.

"I don't subscribe to the characterization of delay or postponement," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, recalling that Gates had never set a deadline for announcing the troop deployments.

"There is certainly a fairly unanimous understanding that some level of force increase is necessary in Afghanistan. How much, when, all those things are being looked at," he said.

"Is it conceivable that you could have some announcements about deployment orders before the strategy review is totally completed? Sure. Is it possible we might have to wait until the strategy reveiw is completed? Sure."

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, assured reporters a week ago that the United States would begin deploying troop reinforcements to Afghanistan before the new strategy had been completed because of the worsening security situation.

Asked why additional troops might be deployed before a final strategy is ready, Morrell said improving security was a vital first step to any new approach in Afghanistan.

"But no matter what your overall strategy may be, we need to reverse the trend that we are seeing in some parts of the country, in terms of a deteriorating security situation.

"That is accepted as the foundation on whatever we -- whatever the president decides to develop in terms of a further strategy."

earlier related report
US military now focusing on Afghanistan: Mullen
The chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff said Monday the United States was still "not done" in Iraq but that the military's primary focus was now the war in Afghanistan.

"You have turned it around in Iraq," Admiral Mike Mullen told several hundred soldiers at the Fort Drum US Army base in New York state.

"A year or two ago we were not in a situation where it looked like we could succeed. Now we are," Mullen said referring to the US surge of troops credited in part for improved security in Iraq.

But he added: "We're not done in Iraq."

"Al-Qaeda is still there, still a problem, although greatly diminished."

Mullen said he was hopeful the number of US troops in Iraq could be reduced over the next few months but that more forces would be needed in Afghanistan to fight a spreading insurgency.

"Our focus is shifting from Iraq to Afghanistan," he told enlisted men and women of the 10th Mountain Division, which has deployed large numbers of soldiers to Iraq.

"It's gotten worse in Afghanistan. Violence is up. The Taliban is back. More than anything else there's a governance issue which is not going well."

The admiral said while he anticipated more troops would be sent to Afghanistan as requested by the commander of US forces there, it was unlikely the force would surpass a total of about 66,000 -- nearly double the roughly 36,000 now deployed there.

"From my perspective right now, I don't see us growing a force well beyond the 20,000 to 30,000 (additional troops) for Afghanistan," he said.

Officials have said the military has prepared for the possible deployment of three combat brigades, about 10,000 to 12,000 soldiers, to Afghanistan.

Mullen's comment indicated the US presence in Afghanistan would not expand to a level similar to the force in Iraq, where about 144,000 troops are deployed.

His remarks came as President Barack Obama's administration carries out a review of strategy in Afghanistan and as Taliban militants challenge the Kabul government for control of the south and the east of the country.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other officials have signaled any new strategy would likely abandon the ambitious goals of the previous administration -- to forge a democracy in the war-torn and impoverished country -- and instead carry out a narrower goal of eliminating Al-Qaeda safe-havens.

Mullen said military means alone could not defeat the insurgents in Afghanistan, but that like Iraq ensuring security for the population was a vital precondition to other efforts by the State Department and other agencies.

"The military side of this (is) a necessary condition without which success cannot be generated," he said.

Mullen said Afghanistan in some ways presented a "tougher fight than Iraq," citing complex tribal politics and Al-Qaeda safe havens along the border with Pakistan.

He expressed gratitude to the young soldiers for enduring frequent deployments, citing a military wife he met earlier on Monday whose husband was sent to Iraq five times.

"We have put an unbelievable amount of pressure on you, you delivered and I am looking to figure out how to create some relief on the force," he said.

Mullen said he favored changing rules for army troops that would allow soldiers a longer break at home between missions to Iraq or Afghanistan, instead of the customary 12 to 14 months leave.

Citing a rise in suicides in all the armed services, particularly the US Army, Mullen said the military needed to find a better way to help those traumatized by their experiences in war.

"Many of you who have been in combat have seen things that you never could imagine," he said.

According to a recent US Army report, in 2008 as many as 143 soldiers took their own lives, up from 115 the previous year.

Gates said fellow soldiers needed "to take care of each other" and seek help for themselves or their comrades when facing emotional trauma.

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