Afghanistan review over, Obama eyes more resources

The White House hinted Thursday that President
Obama will call for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan when he announces his
new policy on the region Friday.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs declined to offer a direct answer to
what the president would ask for now that he has received the review of the
regional policies that he requested, but Gibbs did say the president both as
commander in chief and as a candidate discussed “the need for a greater
influx of help and resources in a very dangerous part of the world.”

{mosads}Gibbs said the president spent much of Thursday briefing members of Congress,
which Gibbs said is “the end of a long process” of consulting with
members and international leaders.

He added that the president thinks his strategy “gives America the best
ability to deal with the threats that are there and to make progress in a very
dangerous part of the world.”

Gibbs also sidestepped a question about whether there will be a request for
more troops from other countries, saying: “I anticipate this will be a
continuing thing that the president will discuss in the coming weeks.”

A number of anti-war, liberal groups have criticized the president for sticking
to his campaign pledge of increasing the U.S. military presence in the
Afghanistan-Pakistan region, and Gibbs said that on Friday Obama “will
outline exactly what our interests are in Afghanistan.”

Gibbs said the new policy is critical to the nation’s safety and more resources
are needed because of extremists in the region who, “because we have lacked a coordinated and regional strategy,
plot against nations of the world even today.”

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it’s the Afghanistan-Pakistan
review, because I think you’ll hear the president talk about how our progress
in one is also determined by stability and progress in another,” Gibbs
said.