Obama has not announced a plan for Afghanistan [View All]

[ProSense]

As of 1:20, Gibbs said he had made no decision. Obama is off to Asia this week.

Q Robert, as far as you know, has the President decided on number of troops, additional troops he'd like to send to Afghanistan?

MR. GIBBS: No, no. Despite the many chances to read otherwise throughout the weekend. Safe to say if he'd made a decision, I think we could free up at least part of his Wednesday.

Q What about a proportional breakdown between trainers, for example, and combat troops, anything like that --

MR. GIBBS: No, no.

Q -- or any thought to where they might come from?

MR. GIBBS: Well, thought from where they might come from?

Q Fort Campbell comes to mind.

MR. GIBBS: Oh, I mean, look, I think -- I mean, obviously there's -- we know where very specialized troops are, but I don't think that the President has -- I doubt we've have gotten to identifying what fort they're at without getting to a number.

Q Also, just to circle back to something you said earlier, is the President consulting outside groups or particular people outside the Situation Room to talk about the Afghanistan review strategy?

MR. GIBBS: Well, let me make sure I understand. Is he having discussions outside of the meetings, or is he talking to participants throughout the process that are different than just those in the meeting itself?

Q Yes. (Laughter.)

MR. GIBBS: Wait a minute, that's my answer. I know that the President has had occasion to talk about the issue of Afghanistan outside of that -- outside of those meetings and outside of just those participants, yes.

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The source of the story is this CBS article:

Obama's Afghan Plan: About 40K More Troops

CBS Exclusive: Sources Say Force Will Grow to 100,000 - Nearly Filling Gen. McChrystal's Request; Long-Term Stay Planned

(CBS) Tonight, after months of conferences with top advisors, President Obama has settled on a new strategy for Afghanistan. CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that the president will send a lot more troops and plans to keep a large force there, long term.

The president still has more meetings scheduled on Afghanistan, but informed sources tell CBS News he intends to give Gen. Stanley McChrystal most, if not all, the additional troops he is asking for.

<...>

Fred Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute says a slow motion surge will produce slow motion results.

"If they're going to be sort of trickled in very slowly over the course of a year than it's unlikely to have a very decisive impact in the course of 2010," he said.

The buildup would be expected to last about four years, until McChrystal completes his plan for doubling the size of the Afghan army and police force.

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Right, anonymous sources and Fred Kagan. Good grief.