WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama has not yet determined whether he will make a decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan before the November 7 election runoff, a US official said Tuesday.

"The UN, NATO, the US stand ready to assist the Afghans in conducting the second round," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.

"Whether or not the president makes a decision before that I don't think has been determined.

"I have continued to say a decision will be made in the coming weeks as the president goes through an examination of our policy," he added...

Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, said the White House would be committing "an error of historic proportions" if it doesn't accede to Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's request for tens of thousands more troops in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California upped the pressure for a major Afghanistan troop surge from the Democratic side, saying it makes no sense to stay in Afghanistan and not grant the general the forces he says are necessary.

Mr. McCain said he doesn't think the United States can win in Afghanistan unless President Obama sends at least 40,000 more troops to augment the 68,000 scheduled to be there by year's end - as suggested by Gen. McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's top defense and diplomacy advisers said the United States retains the Afghanistan war goal that he outlined just two months into his presidency — to sideline al-Qaida — but changing circumstances require a reassessment of how to get there.

A "snap decision" on whether to add more U.S troops would be counterproductive, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday.

Whatever the president decides, the military will salute, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said...

An organization that supports American troops and their families is appalled that The Associated Press published the photograph of a dying U.S. Marine in Afghanistan, against the wishes of his family.

On August 14, Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade during a Taliban ambush in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan. An AP photographer embedded with Bernard's unit photographed the Marine after he suffered severe leg injuries. He was evacuated to a field hospital where he later died on the operating table.

AP waited until after Bernard's funeral to distribute its story and the picture. An AP reporter met with Bernard's parents, allowing them to see the image. But when Bernard's father saw the photo, he opposed its publication, saying it was disrespectful to his son's memory...

President George W. Bush got a firsthand look Monday at the situation in the seven-year-old Afghanistan war, as his administration prepares to hand over a strategy overhaul to his successor including significantly increasing the U.S. troop presence.

Bush spoke to U.S. soldiers and Marines stationed in Afghanistan at a hangar on the tarmac at Bagram Air Base. The rally for over a thousand military personnel took place in the dark, cold pre-dawn hours -- it was about 5:30 a.m. local time when the president strode into the hangar to loud cheers...

A top U.S officer says the military is beginning a massive building effort in
Afghanistan to house the roughly 20,000 additional
troops, including an undetermined increase in Marines, that are expected to
begin pouring in early next year...