U.S. President Barack Obama”s aides are weighing a range of options to shift policy in Afghanistan, including a full-scale counter-insurgency push to protect civilians nationwide, officials said on Wednesday.
Among the ideas are scaling back the U.S. mission to focus on counterterrorism and the training of Afghan forces; making a focused counter-insurgency push in the violent south and east; and pursuing a wider campaign to protect civilians across the country, said a U.S. official who asked not to be named.
Hundreds of civilian officials from across the U.S. government would be deployed to Afghanistan as part of the new strategy in a sort of “civilian surge,” said another official, including veteran U.S. diplomat Peter Galbraith, who would be a deputy to the top U.N. official on the ground.
The officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss a White House review of policy toward Afghanistan expected to be released in the next week or so.
One option under consideration is a vast expansion of Afghanistan”s security force to help stabilize the country, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
