US Military Leaders Discuss Troop Needs for Afghanistan

Afghanistan Troop Request Delivered - Al Pessin, Voice of America. The top US military officer has received the eagerly awaited detailed troop request from the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, as the Obama administration continues a top-level review of its strategy. A military official tells VOA the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, traveled to Germany Friday for an unannounced half-day meeting on a US Air Base with the Afghanistan commander, General Stanley McChrystal. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, indicated Admiral Mullen had an idea what the request would be, but wanted to receive the official document in person and hear details directly from General McChrystal. The official could not say specifically how many troops the general wants. Analysts have said the request could be in the range of 40,000 troops, on top of increases President Barack Obama authorized earlier in the year, which are moving the US troop level to 68,000. There has been tremendous interest in the impending request since General McChrystal's secret assessment of the Afghanistan situation was published Monday by The Washington Post. It paints a grim picture and says the allied mission could fail without more resources. The assessment has become part of a broad Afghanistan strategy review the president has ordered, involving senior civilian and military officials.

US Military Leaders Discuss Troop Needs for Afghanistan - Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, held an unannounced meeting with senior US military leaders on Friday to lay out his needs for additional troops for the war, as the Obama administration engages in intense deliberations over the strategy there, according to a defense official. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for the meeting, held in Germany, "to get a better understanding for himself of McChrystal's troop requirements," the official said. Given growing public concern over the mission in Afghanistan, Mullen wanted to sound out McChrystal face to face on the troop request in preparation for upcoming discussions in Washington, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The meeting lasted about half a day and was held at Ramstein Air Base. Gen. David H. Petraeus, chief of US Central Command, and Adm. James Stavridis, the supreme allied commander for NATO, also attended at Mullen's request. The meeting came as President Obama faces a decision soon on whether to deploy thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan.

Afghan Troop Request Simmers - Yochi J. Dreazen, Wall Street Journal. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top American commander in Afghanistan, is expected to formally ask the Pentagon for up to 40,000 additional US troops this weekend, military officials said, despite a plan to delay the request. Gen. McChrystal has held off on the request for several weeks at the direction of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Pentagon's civilian leadership, while the Obama administration conducts a broad reassessment of its strategy in Afghanistan. Aides to Mr. Gates say the defense chief won't forward the request to the White House until that review has been completed - and if its conclusion is to maintain the current war strategy. On Friday, Gen. McChrystal flew to Germany to deliver a briefing on the request to Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. David Petraeus, who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other senior military commanders. Adm. Mullen, the nation's top military officer, requested the half-day meeting at an American base at Ramstein, "to gain a better understanding of the pending resource requirements," according to a military official familiar with the meeting. "He wanted to talk about it face to face with Gen. McChrystal, to really hear him out."

Top Officers Weigh Need to Increase Troop Levels - Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal met secretly in Germany on Friday with Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to discuss the general's anticipated request for more troops for the war in Afghanistan, Pentagon officials said. A Pentagon official said that Admiral Mullen had asked to meet face to face with General McChrystal, the top American and NATO commander in Afghanistan, "so that he could get a better understanding from General McChrystal directly about the resource requirement." The official said Admiral Mullen - who won Senate confirmation on Friday for a second term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs - did not deliver any specific message to the general at the meeting. The men met at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, which is roughly halfway between Washington and General McChrystal's headquarters in Kabul, the Afghan capital. The meeting occurred as General McChrystal's formal request for a specific number of troops was expected to arrive at the Pentagon. As of Friday evening it had not, said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, who held out the possibility that the request would be on the desk of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates by Saturday.