'Difficult decisions' on Iraq, Afghanistan ahead: Obama

WASHINGTON (AFP) — President Barack Obama said he had "difficult decisions" to make on Iraq and Afghanistan after his first meeting as commander-in-chief at the Pentagon with military brass.

No decisions were made at the more than 90-minute session with the military chiefs, officials said, and Obama gave no clue whether he intends to stick with a 16-month timetable for the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq.
"We're going to have some difficult decisions we're going to have to make surrounding Iraq and Afghanistan, most immediately," he said after speaking with the heads of joint chiefs of staff and the military services.
"Obviously our efforts to go after extremist organizations that do harm to our homeland is uppermost on our minds," he added.
Obama must balance the risk of a rapid drawdown in Iraq against commanders' requirements for up to 30,000 more US troops in Afghanistan, which would nearly double the US military presence there, in response to worsening security conditions.
The president emerged from the meeting in a secure conference room known as "the Tank" with Vice President Joe Biden.
They shook hands and chatted and joked with senior enlisted leaders and officers who lined the wood paneled corridor to meet the new commander-in-chief.
Obama told reporters he had a "wonderful" discussion with the chiefs, which went longer than the hour allotted for the session, his first at the Pentagon with the joint chiefs since he became president.
"We had discussions about Iraq, as well as Afghanistan. We talked about some of the broader global risks that may arise, and the coordination that may arise between our military and civilian forces," he said.
"We also talked about making sure the health of the force is always in our sights," he said.
Acknowledging the strains on soldiers, he said the military has been under "enormous pressure" to carry out a whole set of missions, sometimes without the backing of all other aspects of American power.
"And that's something that I spoke to the chiefs about and that I intend to change," he said.
The military consultations were set in motion a week ago when he met at the White House with the defense secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the top US military commander in the Middle East.
Obama will also, at a later date, make time for in-depth talks with General David McKiernan, commander of NATO forces and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
McKiernan has asked for some 30,000 more troops for Afghanistan, but US commanders in Iraq have urged a slower paced drawdown in US troops there, which would make fewer troops available for the Afghan mission.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates declared Afghanistan the top US military priority on Tuesday, but he told lawmakers that the military is drawing up a range of options, including a 16 month drawdown, and the risks associated with each one.
Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, described Obama's discussion with the chief as "elevated" and wide-ranging and not focused on deployment orders.
"He came here to engage them in a conversation about the threats we as a nation face and the risks that face us around the world," Morrell said.
Earlier, the White House spokesman said Obama would come to a decision on the withdrawal from Iraq "relatively soon, I don't want to set an exact date, though I think it will be relatively shortly."
"I think the president ... has received a lot of information" to make a decision on the withdrawal, Gibbs said. "The Pentagon has been planning for quite some time, partly because of the new agreements."
He was referring to the agreements reached in 2008 between Washington and Baghdad on the conditions under which US troops can remain in Iraq. They call for the withdrawal of all US forces from Iraq by the end of 2011.
"We are no longer involved in a debate about whether, but how and when," Gibbs told reporters.
There are 142,000 US troops in Iraq and 36,000 in Afghanistan.
The first of four combat brigades that had been promised for Afghanistan has just arrived in country, and Gates said two more will there by mid-summer -- a boost of more than 10,000 troops.
But the full complement of additional forces will not be in place before next fall because bases and other installations need to be build to receive them, Gates said Tuesday.