White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the assessment of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan from Army General Stanley McChrystal formed the basis of talks that Obama was having with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the leaders of each branch of the U.S. military.

McChrystal's review had said the war was deteriorating and he recommended as many as 40,000 more U.S. troops for Afghanistan along with a major effort to train Afghan security forces and improve relations with Afghan civilians.

"We'll go through the region and talk about General McChrystal's assessment," Gibbs told reporters as the talks began. "And as we talk about the assessment, I'm sure the resource request will be part of that discussion."

Asked if Obama's review was drawing to an end, Gibbs said: "I think it's nearing its conclusion, yes."

He left unclear, however, whether Obama would announce his new plan immediately after Afghanistan's November 7 presidential election-runoff or wait until after he returns from a November 11-20 Asia trip.

Obama and his national security team have been debating options for weeks, ranging from a massive troop increase to a proposal for a strategy that relies less on troop numbers and more on unmanned drone aircraft to attack al Qaeda targets that are mostly located in Pakistan.

The president has dismissed charges from some conservatives, such as former Vice President Dick Cheney, that he has been dithering over what to do about the 8-year-old Afghanistan war while a Taliban offensive has continued apace and U.S. casualties have increased.

It has become clear in recent days that administration officials appeared to be laying the ground for a hybrid strategy that would entail a troop increase but not one as large as McChrystal and Republican hawks would prefer.

TRAINING AFGHAN FORCES

The centerpiece of the emerging strategy would be a counterinsurgency focused on protecting major Afghan population centers, combined with a stepped-up counterterrorism campaign using drones and special operations forces in the countryside and along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

One option, potentially more palatable for Obama and his Democrats, would add about 10,000 to 15,000 troops.

A large portion of these would be focused on increasing the training of Afghan forces, a top priority for Obama's Democratic allies in Congress.

Currently, there are about 67,000 U.S. troops and 42,000 allied forces in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan expert Max Boot, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, urged Obama to follow McChrystal's advice on troop numbers, but said this might not be what the commander ultimately received.

"General McChrystal has presented a very compelling counter-insurgency strategy that to be resourced requires a minimum of 40,000 troops," Boot said.

"Unfortunately, the leaks coming out of the White House are that President Obama will report a much lower troop figure," Boot, who has just returned from a trip to Afghanistan, told reporters.

In an interview with the PBS television network, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeated that she expected Obama to announce his strategy decision after the Afghan election.

"The president said we will re-evaluate this after the election. It's just that the election hasn't gotten over yet," she told PBS's "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," adding that she hoped the run-off results would be in more quickly than the August poll, which was found to be deeply flawed.

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