Obama Choice On Troops For Afghanistan Due In Days

[Purveyor]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is expected to decide within days how many extra U.S. troops to send to Afghanistan, the U.S. defense chief said on Tuesday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates also suggested the initial deployment could be as small as one combat brigade, as the Obama administration moves to complete its review of Afghan strategy before NATO holds its next summit on April 2.

"The president will have several options in front of him and I think he will make those decisions probably in the course of the next few days," Gates told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.

Up to now, Obama had been widely expected to announce the deployment of three combat units encompassing up to 17,000 U.S. forces as part of a plan to nearly double the U.S. military presence to about 60,000 troops over the next 12 to 18 months.

U.S. military planners have considered sending two Army combat brigades, each with about 3,500 soldiers, and a larger Marine task force that could number close to 10,000 troops.

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