Decision on Afghan strategy in next few weeks: White House
Washington: Notwithstanding Hamid Karzai's re-election, the US Tuesday said it was in no hurry on deciding its strategy in Afghanistan and that President Barack Obama will announce the decision in the next few weeks.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the decision would be taken in the "next few weeks" and rejected reports that Obama would accelerate his decision making
process as Karzai was announced the winner in Afghan polls.
Neither the announcement of the Independent Election Commission declaring Karzai as he winner nor the decision of Abdullah to withdraw from the race "would have an impact on the timing of the decision making process", he said.
"I think the decision will be made in the coming weeks... obviously we have a sense of now who will be the leader and who will comprise the government of Afghanistan
going forward.
"Obviously that's helpful in the discussions that have to be had and in the strategy that will be set," he said.
"But I don't think that was the single question left for a decision to be made. That's sort of a roundabout way of saying I still think we're looking at the next few weeks,"
Gibbs said.
Congressional leaders have mounted pressure on Obama to decide on his strategy in Afghanistan as Karzai has been re-elected as the President.
Bureau Report