Washington: US President, Barack Obama could
announce his decision about the new strategy on Afghanistan
and Pakistan in coming weeks, the White House has said after
he concluded his sixth Situation Room meeting with national
security team.
Since mid-August, Obama has been holding a series of
extensive Situation Room meetings at the White House with his
top security, defence and intelligence advisors to arrive at a
"right strategy" that "works" in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
So far Obama has spent more than 17 hours in the
Situation Room since mid-August, besides holding series of
meetings with Congressional leaders, his top military
commanders and officials of the Administration, besides key
global allies.
Yesterday's meeting, which lasted more than an hour and a
half was attended by Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton;
Defence Secretary, Robert Gates; National Security Advisor,
General (rtd) James Jones; Tom Donilon, Deputy National
Security Advisor; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for
Counterterrorism and Homeland Security and Rahm Emanuel, the
White House Chief of Staff.
Vice President, Joe Biden, who is in Europe, joined the
meeting through video conference. "They are still focused on
reviewing and assessing and making a decision," White House
Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, said after the meeting.
"The President understands, as I think everyone does, the
urgency of getting this decision right. We are reminded on an
almost daily basis of the sacrifice that thousands have made
and continue to make to protect our freedom," Gibbs said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 12:44