WASHINGTON (AFP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates will make a recommendation on how to proceed in Afganistan to President Barack Obama "in the coming days," a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.
"I would think, in the coming days, the secretary hopes to be able to present his recommendation to the president," spokesman Geoff Morrell said.
Obama also will receive a recommendation from chairman of the joint chiefs Admiral Michael Mullen, the spokesman added.
"As for how soon after that he (president Obama) makes decisions that would lead to deployment orders, I can't tell you precisely," the spokesman said.
The United States already has 36,000 troops in Afghanistan, and is planning to boost its forces by another 30,000 in the next 12 to 18 months.
Gates indicated Monday that Washington could send three brigades -- each one with 3,500 to 4,000 people -- by mid-summer.
"But, obviously, we have to make some notifications to units so that they are in a position to deploy as soon as possible should the commander-in-chief give the go-ahead for that," Morrell added.
Obama said Wednesday he had "difficult decisions" to make on Iraq and Afghanistan after his first meeting as commander-in-chief at the Pentagon with top military brass.
No decisions were made at the more than 90-minute session with the military chiefs, officials said, and Obama gave no clue whether he intends to stick with a 16-month timetable for the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq.
"We're going to have some difficult decisions we're going to have to make surrounding Iraq and Afghanistan, most immediately," he said.
Morrell said: "That's the difficult decision, the balancing of risk between two theaters."
The Pentagon is hoping the new administration can convince its allies to commit more troops and resources to Afghanistan.
"Hopefully, the president's popularity will lead to a greater European contribution," Morrell said.
But he admitted that doubling the number of US troops in Afghanistan would lead to a heightened risk of US deaths.
"You are putting the number of coalition forces on the ground to just short of 100,000. That's a significant increase, putting many more lives at risk and in the battle," he said.
A total of 664 American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the start of the conflict launched at the end of 2001 to oust the Taliban Islamic regime, according to the independent website icasualties.org.
Last year marked the worst year for American casualties with 155 soldiers killed in 12 months in Afghanistan.
To better protect its troops, the Pentagon has begun to study a new, lighter armored vehicle, known as MRAP -- Mine Resisting Ambush Protected -- "which would be more applicable to the terrain in Afghanistan," Morrell said.
According to Pentagon figures, some 9,700 MRAPs have so far been deployed in Iraq, and 1,600 in Afghanistan.
Their V-shaped shell and reinforced armor-plating, which diverts explosions towards the exterior of the vehicles, are said to better protect soldiers against home-made bombs which are the main cause of troop deaths in Iraq and now in Afghanistan as well.
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