WASHINGTON — At a White House meeting aimed at tempering increasingly politicized debate over the war in Afghanistan, President Obama told congressional leaders Tuesday that he does not plan to dramatically reduce the American troop level or switch to a strictly counter-terrorism mission.
Asking for patience until he completes an assessment of the situation over the next few weeks, the president urged lawmakers to keep their minds open to a nuanced range of options.
Obama did not indicate to the bipartisan group whether he is leaning toward or against a significant troop escalation. Instead, he suggested he is looking at the middle range of the spectrum, somewhere between a major increase in forces and a large drawdown.
"The president reiterated that we need this debate to be honest and dispense with the straw man argument that this is about either doubling down or leaving Afghanistan," one senior administration official said after the meeting ended.
Still, the 90-minute session demonstrated the growing pressures on the president, who has to contend with many fellow Democrats hesitant to increase American troop levels and Republicans eager to boost the war effort. Several people in attendance said some Republicans openly embraced the recent analysis of Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in the Afghanistan effort, who has recommended sending as many as 40,000 additional troops.
Republican lawmakers expressed concerns about how long Obama is taking to review the war strategy, saying U.S. troops need more support now and that a delay is putting them at higher risk.
"Their recommendations should be given great weight, given their successes in the past," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), recounting the highlights of the meeting.
The meeting came after several days in which conversations taking place within the White House have spilled outside, with the September leak of McChrystal's report followed by an unusually public discussion of his ideas and of contending points of view.
Within the confines of the White House, Vice President Joe Biden has voiced support for maintaining roughly the current level of 68,000 troops, with a shift in strategy toward airstrikes and special forces operations.
Meanwhile, McChrystal has reportedly requested a troop increase of 20,000 to 40,000 troops. The number has not been disclosed, but some in Washington have treated the reported figures as though they are official.
