Filed by KOSU News in US News.
September 25, 2009

The Pentagon’s top military officer flew to Europe to talk to the commander in the Afghanistan war Friday about how many troops he needs to turn around the faltering campaign.

President Barack Obama would not say whether he thinks the war requires more troops, but said he is reviewing whether the United States is pursuing the right strategy to defeat al-Qaida.

“I will ultimately make the decision that will meet that core goal I set out at the beginning,” Obama said at a news conference in Pittsburgh.

Two defense officials said that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen met Gen. Stanley McChrystal for a half-day of talks Friday at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The U.S. commanders for NATO and the Middle East region also attended. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

The officials said Mullen received McChrystal’s report on how many troops he thinks he needs to defeat the insurgency. They declined to confirm what others have said privately for weeks — that McChrystal wants 40,000 more troops.

The officials said Mullen asked for the meeting because he wanted a face-to-face talk with McChrystal to better understand what the warfront commander wants and why he wants it.

Not present at Friday’s meeting were Defense Secretary Robert Gates or other civilian Afghanistan policy chiefs, who did attend an emergency strategy session on Afghanistan over the summer.

Gates has not said whether he endorses additional troops for the war, as Mullen did this month.

The war is losing public support, and Democrats in Congress have told Obama they do not want to send more forces.

“I understand the public’s weariness of this war, given that it comes on top of weariness about the war in Iraq,” Obama said. “This is not easy, and I would expect that the public would ask some very tough questions.” Copyright 2009 The Associated Press