President Barack Obama has issued new orders for the US military in Afghanistan after deciding how many more troops to send, officials say.
President Obama told senior military leaders about his long-awaited decision on troop numbers on Sunday night, a White House spokesman said. The president is now briefing the UK, French and Russian leaders on the plan. The moves come as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would send 500 more soldiers to the country.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Obama held an unannounced meeting on Sunday night with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Associated Press reported. He then spoke to senior staff including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and National Security Adviser James Jones before holding a videophone conference with the head of the US operation in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal and Karl Eikenberry, ambassador to Afghanistan.
Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who is currently visiting Washington DC, was told of the plans in person. President Obama’s plans for Afghanistan – which are expected to involve sending tens of thousands extra troops – are due to be formally announced on Tuesday.
Mr Gibbs said Mr Brown, Mr Rudd, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev were not told exactly how many extra troops the US intends to despatch, the Associated Press reported. The US currently has about 68,000 troops in Afghanistan, which contribute to total foreign forces of more than 100,000.
Last week, Mr Obama said he intended to “finish the job” in Afghanistan. He has been considering a request from Gen McChrystal for 40,000 more US troops and ccording to US media reports, he may announce a further 30,000 troops are to be sent. On Monday, Mr Brown said he was sending a further 500 soldiers to Afghanistan, taking the country’s total deployment in the country to 10,000.
“We should failing in our duty if we didn’t work with our allies to deal with the problem where it starts,” Mr Brown told parliament.
