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White House: Afghan decision in coming weeks

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is still weeks away from deciding whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, the White House said Sunday amid pressure from lawmakers to settle on a war strategy despite muddled politics and concerns of corruption in Kabul.

Top White House advisers said Obama’s painstaking review, ongoing since early September, would not be hampered by Sunday’s announcement from the top challenger in the Afghan presidential runoff election that he would withdraw from a race he was likely to lose.

“I expect the president will make a decision within weeks,” senior Obama adviser David Axlerod said. “As you know, he has gone through a very rigorous process because the goal here is not just to make an arithmetic judgment about the number of troops, but to make sure that we have the right strategy.”

Axlerod said former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah’s decision to withdraw means that Afghan President Hamid Karzai all but certainly will remain in power.

“We are going to deal with the government that is there,” Axlerod said. “And obviously there are issues we need to discuss, such as reducing the high level of corruption. These are issues we’ll take up with President Karzai.”

The runoff was scheduled in wake of widespread claims of election fraud from the August vote. The Obama administration had planned to wait until after the runoff before deciding whether to continue targeting the Taliban in Afghanistan with more U.S. forces or focus on eliminating al-Qaida and other terrorists with unmanned spy planes in Pakistan.

Before Obama left the White House to campaign for Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine in New Jersey on Sunday, he spoke with his national security adviser by telephone. White House spokesman Ben LaBolt told reporters aboard Air Force One that Jim Jones updated Obama on the situation in Afghanistan and that Jones had spoken with the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry.

About 68,000 American troops already have been ordered to report to Afghanistan by the end of the year.

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, wants the Pentagon to send him an additional 40,000 troops to prevent the Taliban from letting al-Qaida once again use Afghanistan as a haven — as it was in the days leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Faced with growing troop deaths and bloody fighting in the 8-year war, the White House has signaled it likely will send over more forces — but likely far fewer than what McChrystal wants.

Lawmakers called on Obama to decide on a war strategy, saying the continued impasse has put U.S. troops in danger.

“The longer this decision hangs, the more jeopardy and the more danger our troops on the ground there are in the middle of,” said House Republican leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. “I would hope the president would make a decision and make it soon.”

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., called anew for Obama to heed McChrystal’s request for additional forces.

“It’s time to send more help,” Lieberman said.

Once a Democrat, the hawkish Lieberman said the Obama administration needs to start working with Karzai, whom he praised.

“I think it’s time for us to stop beating up on President Karzai and start building up President Karzai and his government to be the government we need,” Lieberman said. “Because they’re not the enemy. The enemy is the Taliban.”

A runoff would have given Karzai more credibility as Afghanistan’s legitimate leader — not only within his own country, but also with U.S. and other western allies who have staked a huge interest in the fate of the region and its stability. By not being able to run in — and win — the runoff, Karzai may remain in a shadow after collecting 48 percent of the vote in the August elections.

Valerie Jarrett, another senior White House adviser, said the aborted runoff would not “complicate” Obama’s strategy decision. She did not mention Karzai specifically.

“It’s up to the Afghan people and their authorities to decide how to proceed going forward,” Jarrett said. “We watched the election very carefully. And we’re going to work with the leader of the Afghan government and hopefully that’s going to improve the state of conditions for the people in Afghanistan, and also help us as we try to bring this war to a close.”

Axlerod and Lieberman spoke on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Jarrett appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and Boehner was on CNN’s “State of the Union.”