WASHINGTON — President Obama said yesterday his middle-of-the-night visit to greet the remains of fallen US soldiers is “a sobering reminder” of the sacrifices of war.
The president told reporters at the White House that the burden of such sacrifices by US military personnel and their families “is going to bear on how I see” the war in Afghanistan.
“Obviously, it was a sobering reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that our young men and women in uniform are engaging in every single day — not only our troops, but their families as well,” Obama said of his trip to the air base at Dover, Del.
“So Michelle and I are constantly mindful of those sacrifices. And obviously, the burden that both our troops and our families bear in any wartime situation is going to bear on how I see these conflicts. And it is something that I think about each and every day.”
Obama is considering sending large numbers of additional US forces to Afghanistan next year, but fewer than his war commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, prefers, officials said yesterday.
Such a narrowed military mission would escalate American forces to accomplish the commander’s broadest goals: protecting Afghan cities and key infrastructure.
But the option’s scaled-down troop numbers likely would cut back on McChrystal’s most ambitious objectives, amounting to what one official described as “McChrystal Light.”
Under the pared-down option, McChrystal would be given fewer forces than the 40,000 additional troops he has asked for atop the current US force of 68,000, officials said.
Senior White House officials stressed, however, that the president has not settled on any new troop numbers and continues to debate other strategic approaches to the 8-year-old Afghanistan war.
The officials say Obama has not yet firmly settled on the narrowed option or any other option.