Washington: US President Barack Obama Tuesday warned America could not fight the battle in Afghanistan alone, as he met NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen and began deliberations on whether to escalate the war.
"This is not a American battle, this is a NATO mission as well," Obama said as he welcomed the alliance's secretary general to the Oval Office, at a time of mounting political pressure over future war strategy.
"We both agree that it is absolutely critical that we are successful in dismantling, disrupting, destroying the Al-Qaeda network," he said, also citing the need to work with the Afghan government to provide security.
"We are working actively and diligently to consult with NATO at every step of the way."
Obama is facing fateful decisions on Afghan strategy as he digests a report by US commander General Stanley McChrystal which warned the war could be lost within a year without more troops.
McChrystal has reportedly requested up to 40,000 more US soldiers to fight the strengthening Taliban insurgency, but Obama is considering whether current tactics are the best way to defeat Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
A US official said that McChrystal and General David Petraeus, head of US central command, had both been invited to attend a meeting on Afghanistan at the White House Tuesday among top officials, in person or by video link.
Obama was not expected to join those talks, but was scheduled to take part in another top-level meeting -- to which both generals were also invited, on Wednesday, another official said.
The President was also due to hold his regularly weekly meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday.
Some Republican critics have accused Obama of undue delay and say he should simply approve any request for more troops submitted by the Pentagon.
Rasmussen said Obama was right to set US strategy before making far reaching decisions about the possible dispatch of tens of thousands of extra US troops to Afghanistan.
"Don't make any mistake: the normal discussion on the right approach should not be misinterpreted as lack of resolve," Rasmussen said.
"This alliance will stand united and we will stay in Afghanistan as long as it takes to finish our job."
The White House has cautioned it will be "weeks" before the President makes up his mind.
"This isn't going to be finished in one meeting, it's not going to be finished in several meetings," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
Obama's task in building political support for any troop increase is being complicated by the fraud-tainted Afghan Presidential election and widespread mistrust in Washington over the government of President Hamid Karzai.
His critical decisions on Afghanistan coincide with the an increasingly strong Taliban, mounting US and allied casualties, and American public opinion that is souring on the war.
A CNN Opinion Research poll this month showed record levels of opposition to the eight-year-old conflict, with 58 percent of respondents saying they opposed it, while 39 percent were in favor.
Other recent polls have shown public opinion more evenly split on the war.
The US military has declined to reveal the details of McChrystal's troop request but Republican Senator John McCain said in a weekend television interview that the commander had appealed for 30,000-40,000 forces.
Gates has said he will only formally convey McChrystal's troop request to Obama once the policy review is complete -- and denied any rifts between the Pentagon and some skeptics of troop increases in the White House.
Top US lawmaker seeks Afghan commander testimony
Washington: A senior US lawmaker and close ally of President Barack Obama called Tuesday for the top military commander in Afghanistan to testify before Congress on the nearly eight-year-old war.
"Where I stand is that I want to hear from McChrystal," Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters, referring to General Stanley McChrystal, who commands US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
"We need to hear whether or not, in fact, the strategy that is proposed can, in fact, succeed," said Hoyer, who declined to say whether he supported McChrystal's urgent request for Obama to send more US troops to Afghanistan.
"Afghanistan, after all, historically, has been not a venue in which great powers have found themselves to be very successfully, so that I think we need to look very carefully at the plans that are put before us," he said.
Hoyer said he supported the president's "thoughtful and considered" effort to get advice on the conflict from McChrystal and a range of other advisers, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the top US military officer, Admiral Michael Mullen.
"Until he (Obama) has his own conclusions, I think the Congress ought to, with him, be looking at the options, and see what options are viable and possible," said the lawmaker.
Hoyer's comments came as Obama's Republican critics have been stepping up calls for McChrystal to testify on his assessment of the strategy in Afghanistan, notably his request for more troops.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 23:45