Obama eyeing troop cut in Afghanistan: Report

WASHINGTON: US President Obama is exploring alternatives to a major troop increase in Afghanistan, including a plan advocated by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scale back American forces and focus more on rooting out Al-Qaida there and in Pakistan, officials said late on Tuesday.

The options under review are part of what administration officials described as a wholesale reconsideration of a strategy Obama announced with fanfare just six months ago. Two intelligence reports are being conducted to evaluate Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The broad reassessment has been prompted by deteriorating conditions on the ground, the messy and still unsettled outcome of the Afghan elections and a dire report by Obama's new commander, General Stanley McChrystal. Aides said the president wanted to examine whether the strategy he unveiled in March was still the best approach and whether it could work with the extra combat forces McChrystal wants.