Washington, November 26: As President Barack Obama plans to announce his Afghan war strategy on Tuesday, the White House says the US does not intend to stay in Afghanistan for a long time.
“We are not going to be there another eight or nine years,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Wednesday.
Obama will announce his decision in a national address Tuesday night from the US Military Academy.
Gibbs said earlier on Wednesday that the announcement would include an exit strategy.
Obama’s recent meetings with military advisers have often focused on how to train Afghanistan’s police and army so that the US forces can leave, he added.
War commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal has asked Obama for about 40,000 additional troops, arguing that without a surge the war would end in failure.
Some military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the army is planning for an increase of up to 35,000 troops beginning next year.
The additional forces would come atop a record 71,000 US troops in the war-torn country now and would represent the largest expansion since the US-led invasion in 2001.
According to opinion polls, support for the eight-year war has dropped significantly since Obama took office, with a majority now saying that they oppose the war and that it is not worth fighting.
Last spring, Obama approved 21,000 extra troops for Afghanistan, bringing the number of US soldiers to an expected 68,000. The actual figure is slightly higher now because of the overlap between troops entering and leaving the country on regular rotations.
The new troops Obama is expected to add will not probably begin to arrive until February or March.
NATO countries are also preparing to send more soldiers, with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown saying 10 NATO nations are ready to offer about 5,000 more troops.
As the second-largest contingent after the US with 9,000 troops in Afghanistan, Britain has not named the countries it claims will provide the extra forces.
—–Agencies