Obama ready with Afghan strategy

After three months of deliberation, Obama is set to announce his Afghan war strategy on Tuesday [EPA] Barack Obama, the US president, has briefed key allies on his new strategy for the war in Afghanistan a day before he is expected to announce it. The new plan is expected to include sending 30,000 more US troops as well as setting a time frame to exit Afghanistan. After three months of deliberations, Obama will outline his plan in an address to the American public on Tuesday from the US military academy at West Point in New York. Pentagon officials hope that Nato member states will supplement the US increase with up to 10,000 of their own troops and trainers - pushing the overall number of extra troops close to 40,000. 'Not open-ended' Washington hopes the boost, which is expected to be phased in over the next 12 to 18 months, will create conditions that will eventually allow the number of US troops to be scaled back. "You will hear the president discuss clearly that this [support for the war] is not open-ended," Robert Gibbs, a White House spokesman, said on Monday. "This is about what has to be done in order to assume that the Afghans can assume the responsibility of securing their country," he said. General Stanley McChrystal, the US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, told politicians that a troop reduction could begin by 2013, while the White House said it expected US forces out of the country by 2017 or 2018. Rob Reynolds, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Washington, said the troop numbers are less important than Obama's goals. "I think Obama is going to have to reintroduce the American people to exactly what these goals are - whether he is going to scale them up or down," Reynolds said. Obama's 'contradiction' Reynolds said there is a contradiction in what the president is saying. "He is saying it is not an open-ended commitment and yet he is going to finish the job, which implies the troops will be there for as long as it takes. "If the goal is to completely eradicate the Taliban, that would require more troops than I think any army has." Obama on Monday briefed Kevin Rudd, the Australian prime minister, in an Oval Office meeting and spoke with other leaders, including Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, the French and Russian presidents and the Italian prime minister. "The president believes the situation in this region is a shared international challenge, so building on the work he's been doing in this regard," Gibbs said. "The president will be in close consultation with our friends and allies throughout the day." Obama's discussions with the leaders of Nato member countries came on the same day that Brown pledged to send 500 more British troops to Afghanistan.