US President, Barack Obama could announce his decision about the new strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan in coming weeks, the White House has said after he concluded his sixth Situation Room meeting with national security team.
Since mid-August, Obama has been holding a series of extensive Situation Room meetings at the White House with his top security, defence and intelligence advisors to arrive at a "right strategy” that “works” in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
So far Obama has spent more than 17 hours in the Situation Room since mid-August, besides holding series of meetings with Congressional leaders, his top military commanders and officials of the Administration, besides key global allies.
Monday's meeting, which lasted more than an hour and a half was attended by Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton; Defence Secretary, Robert Gates; National Security Advisor, General (rtd) James Jones; Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security and Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff.
Vice President, Joe Biden, who is in Europe, joined the meeting through video conference. “They are still focused on reviewing and assessing and making a decision,” White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, said after the meeting.
“The President understands, as I think everyone does, the urgency of getting this decision right. We are reminded on an almost daily basis of the sacrifice that thousands have made and continue to make to protect our freedom,” Mr. Gibbs said.
