President Barack Obama plans to send about 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan over six months, a senior administration official said today, in a war strategy shift he hopes will defeat the Taliban and permit a US exit.
After three months of deliberations that some critics called dithering, Mr Obama is to outline his plan in a televised speech to cadets at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York at 8pm EST (1am Irish time).
In his speech this evening, Mr Obama also will set out a rough timeframe, including some dates, for when the main US military mission will end.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the details had not yet been announced.
The 30,000 new troops will bring the US total in Afghanistan to more than 100,000. The main mission of the new troops will be to reverse Taliban gains and secure population centres in the volatile south and east parts of the country.
Nato diplomats said Mr Obama would ask European members of the military alliance to contribute between 5,000 and 10,000 new troops to the international force in Afghanistan.
One official from a European nation said the troop figure was included in an official Nato document compiled on the basis of information received from Washington ahead of Mr Obama's announcement. He said France was being asked to provide 1,500 troops.
A second official, from another European member nation, also said Europe was being asked for up to 10,000 more troops, which would mean up to 40,000 new troops being sent, taking into account the extra 30,000 US troops Mr Obama is set to deploy.
Mr Obama's decision to deploy the additional troops over a six-month period represents an acceleration of his long-awaited new strategy for Afghanistan. Pentagon officials had expected a phased troop build-up over the next 12 to 18 months.
The decision to send more troops, which Mr Obama has already conveyed to commanders, represents a major gamble.
The Democratic president took office vowing a greater focus on Afghanistan but has faced scepticism from some aides about the wisdom of putting more US lives and money on the line in the war, given that the government in Kabul is widely seen as corrupt and inept.
Mr Obama plans to stress that Washington does not have an open-ended commitment in Afghanistan, eight years after US-led forces toppled the Taliban government that sheltered al-Qaeda militants blamed for the September 11th, 2001, attacks.
His challenge is to reverse what US military commanders call a deteriorating situation due to a resurgent Taliban.
"We're going to accelerate going after al-Qaeda and its extremist allies, we're going to accelerate the training of an Afghan security force, the police and an army, because we want to as quickly as possible transition the security of the Afghan people over to those national security forces in Afghanistan," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on CBS.
Mr Obama also aims to persuade Afghan president Hamid Karzai to crack down on corruption in return for support. Washington has had a fraught relationship with Mr Karzai since Mr Obama took office, made worse since the international community spent some $250 million to help hold an election in August, only to be embarrassed by massive fraud in Mr Karzai's favour.
Mr Obama had a teleconference with Mr Karzai early today and made the point that Afghanistan must turn a new page.
Mr Obama is also expected to stress the need for neighbouring Pakistan to do more to fight militants who have crossed into Afghanistan. The administration has said getting the policy right in Islamabad is just as important as in Kabul.
Agencies