Afghanistan Troop Request May Contain Political Fail-Safe - Spencer Ackerman, Washington Independent.

A forthcoming request from the commander of US troops in Afghanistan for additional resources for the war is likely to take the form of a palette of options, not simply an appeal for more troops, according to Obama administration officials. Combined with a recent congressional proposal to delay a troop request, the options request might allow President Obama to avoid the politically thorny question of ordering a second escalation of US forces in Afghanistan this year.

Administration officials said that the widespread expectation within the administration was that Gen. Stanley McChrystal would present Obama with a series of options for how to resource the US effort to combat the deterioration of security in Afghanistan, along with a discussion of the merits and drawbacks of each. Among the options anticipated by the officials: an accelerated increase in Afghan security forces; the transference of US or Afghan troops to relatively volatile parts of the country; substituting US support troops for US combat troops while holding overall troop levels static; or increasing US troops in total. The officials would not speak for attribution, citing the sensitivity of the internal Afghanistan debate...

More at The Washington Independent.