Review News Focuses on Civilian Effort in Afghanistan Strategy President Barack Obama President Obama, convening his fifth war council meeting in as many weeks, pressed his senior national security advisers Wednesday on the political situation in Afghanistan and the effort to train the country's security forces, officials said.
Allegations of fraud in the Afghan presidential election over the summer have raised questions about the legitimacy of Hamid Karzai's government, complicating U.S. efforts to partner with him. Meanwhile, the country's security forces are seen as ill-equipped to confront an insurgency that is gaining strength.
"We've been at war eight years, and we realize now we're starting from scratch because very little work has been done building a credible Afghan partner," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks
Such factors are figuring prominently in the debate over the Obama administration's strategy in Afghanistan, official say. Although the discussions also include making a decision on whether to deploy tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops, an administration official said the president was "very focused on the complexity of the situation" Wednesday -- looking past the military aspect of the equation and toward the civilian effort
Obama has said he will make a decision on U.S. troop levels in the coming weeks, and White House officials said that timetable is still in effect, with another war council session scheduled for next week.
But in Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Wednesday that he would send an additional 500 troops to Afghanistan -- triggering media reports there that U.S. allies had reached a preliminary conclusion about boosting troop levels.
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