‘Little support for sending more troops to Afghanistan’: Speaker US Congress

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Pelosi’s comments put President Obama in awkward position

WASHINGTON: The leader of the House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on Thursday said she sees little support for sending more US troops to Afghanistan, forecasting a potential showdown with the Obama administration over how to win the war.

Pelosi’s comments put President Barack Obama in an uneasy position as he considers whether to side with his top commander in Afghanistan, who is expected in coming weeks to ask for more troops and other resources. She is the highest-ranking Democrat to signal that any White House or Pentagon push for more troops will be resisted in Congress. “I don’t think there’s a great deal of support for sending more troops to Afghanistan in the country or in the Congress,” Pelosi told reporters.

Pelosi said she has not yet seen an on-the-ground assessment of the military situation in Afghanistan that was delivered last week to the White House. The assessment, by Army Gen Stanley McChrystal, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, does not specifically ask for more troops. But a follow-up report expected in coming weeks is widely expected to. A briefing on the classified report’s conclusions was tentatively planned for this week, according to Capitol Hill aides. Pelosi, however, said she had not yet been briefed and believed she would not be until next week.

White House officials are working to enlist congressional support for the fighting in Afghanistan, which in August saw its bloodiest month for US troops since invading in October 2001. Fifty-one US troops died in Afghanistan last month.

List: Obama administration officials have asked lawmakers and staff to help draw up a list of about 50 benchmarks that the government wants to use in determining whether US strategy in the region is working. That list is due September 24. ap

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