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President Barack Obama and his Afghanistan war council turn to Pakistan Wednesday, exactly eight years after the first thunderous US air raids heralded a conflict that still lacks an exit strategy.
Obama will gather top security, military and political advisors in the secure White House Situation Room for a third in-depth meeting on Afghan policy as he mulls whether to pitch thousands more troops into the unpopular war.
On Tuesday, the president told lawmakers he had no intention of reducing the US military footprint in Afghanistan, which will reach 68,000 troops by the end of this year, an administration official said on condition of anonymity.
Now, the choice may lie somewhere between a request by war commander General Stanley McChrystal for 40,000 more troops for a full-scale anti-insurgency strategy or a narrower attempt to target Al-Qaeda and train the Afghan army.
Obama's decision comes amid rising public anxiety over the war, a spike in US troop deaths and a Taliban insurgency which is growing in ferocity, eight years into what is now one of the longest US military operations on record.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the "primary" focus of Obama's deliberations Wednesday would be the situation in Pakistan, where many in Washington believe Al-Qaeda chiefs may be hiding in isolated areas.
"The situation in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region is tenuous," said Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday.
"It remains a hotbed for terrorist activity, and it is vital to our national security that we get this right."
Wednesday's White House talks will include Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, top military brass, and US intelligence chiefs.
McChrystal will join in the discussions by video link.
Obama's meeting with Democratic and Republican power brokers Tuesday did little to bridge deep party divisions over what to do about Afghanistan, the most fateful decision of his presidency so far.
"Given the importance of the policy to our security and to our troops, the president said that he will be rigorous and deliberate, while moving forward with a sense of urgency," a senior Obama administration official said.
But Obama also called on political leaders not to misrepresent his options in the raging public debate over the review.
"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," the official said.
The New York Times highlighted a tense exchange in the meeting between Obama and his defeated election foe Republican Senator John McCain, who reportedly warned Obama "time is not on our side" and that "this should not be a leisurely process."
Obama replied: "John, I can assure you this won't be leisurely," attendees told the Times. "No one feels more urgency to get this right than I do."
A new poll Wednesday added to the political tumult whipped up around Obama's decision making process.
The Quinnipiac University survey found 65 percent of voters willing to have US soldiers fight and possibly die to stamp out extremists operating in Afghanistan.
But only 38 percent of those asked said they would be willing to send more troops to Afghanistan.
Other polls have shown rising public anxiety over the war, launched to target Al-Qaeda and its Taliban hosts after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
Wednesday is the eighth anniversary of former president George W. Bush's 2001 announcement of the start of air strikes in Afghanistan.
This year has been the deadliest of the war, with 394 foreign troops killed in 2009, including 236 Americans, according to an AFP toll.
Comments by high-profile leaders who emerged from the White House on Tuesday revealed deep divisions over the war.
"The fact is, we all know if the Taliban comes back, Al-Qaeda will come back," McCain said, drawing parallels between Afghanistan and the under-resourced US effort in Iraq blamed for fanning the insurgency.
"I am very convinced that General McChrystal's analysis is not only correct but should be implemented as quickly as possible."
