Obama meets with Afghanistan commander in Denmark

[October 02, 2009]  COPENHAGEN (AP) -- President Barack Obama summoned his top commander in Afghanistan to a 25-minute meeting Friday in the Danish capital.

The pair met aboard Air Force One just before Obama returned to Washington from Copenhagen, where he was pitching the International Olympic Committee on Chicago's bid to host the 2016 games. The meeting comes as Obama has ordered a top-to-bottom review of the United States' strategy for Afghanistan.

Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal was already in London, where he said in a speech Thursday that insurgents are gaining strength in Afghanistan and more troops will "buy time" for the Afghan military and police forces to prepare to take control of the country in 2013.

A White House spokesman said the meeting was part of the ongoing discussion about Afghanistan and no decisions were made. They met in the president's cabin.

"The president wanted to take the opportunity to get together with Gen. McChrystal," spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters aboard the presidential aircraft just before takeoff.

The meeting was the third conversation between the two since McChrystal disclosed in a television interview that aired Sunday that he had spoken with Obama only once since taking over the U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan. Obama tapped McChrystal in May to replace ousted Gen. David McKiernan.

Obama and McChrystal spoke on Wednesday before Obama convened a meeting later that day of his war council, which McChrystal joined by video conference. When Obama learned McChrystal would be in London, he asked him to meet him on the tarmac after Obama made a last-minute pitch for Chicago's bid, Gibbs said.

The urgent meeting came as Obama reviews U.S. strategy in the Afghanistan war, now nearing the end of its eighth year. A revitalized Taliban resistance has gained ground in some parts of Afghanistan, and political stability is in question after a recent fraud-tainted Afghan presidential election.

Obama has set two more meetings of his war council for next week.

McChrystal is commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. He has argued that without more troops the United States could lose the war. McChrystal reportedly is seeking up to 40,000 additional troops.

[Associated Press; By JULIE PACE]

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