President Obama on Monday will meet again with his national security team about the war effort in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The White House meeting is the sixth in what originally was supposed to be five meetings on developing a new war strategy, including whether to add more troops.
Among those scheduled to attend are Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; James L. Jones, assistant to the president for national security affairs; Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates; White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel; and John Brennan, assistant to the president for counterterrorism and homeland security.
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will participate via videoconference. He is in Ohio to talk about the federal Recovery Act and attend private events for Democrat Reps. Mary Jo Kilroy, Zack Space and John Boccieri, all facing re-election in 2010.
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, submitted a report in late August reportedly asking the president for roughly 40,000 more troops in the region.
Mr. Obama has since held the series of Situation Room meetings before making a decision on whether to send more troops, or how many to send. Roughly 68,000 troops are in the region now, including the additional 21,000 the president sent in March.
The decision became more complicated last week after Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed to a runoff election, set for Nov. 7, because of widespread fraud in the Aug. 20 presidential election.
Republicans support sending more troops and have in recent weeks become more critical of Mr. Obama’s taking roughly two months to respond to the McChrystal request. They say more troops are needed to protect soldiers already in the region and to help defeat Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents.
Mr. Obama travels to north Florida after the meeting Monday to talk with Navy and Marine Corps servicemen and women at Naval Air Station Jacksonville.
The White House said Friday the visit should not be interpreted a sign the president soon will make a decision to troop numbers.
“I wouldn’t over-read anything into the remarks that he’s delivering other than he wants to thank the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces for the hard and courageous work that they do,” said Bill Burton, deputy White House press secretary.
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