WASHINGTON - PRESIDENT Barack Obama is set to head to the Pentagon in the next few days to discuss policy options and developments in Iraq with top military and civilian defense officials, his spokesman said on Monday.
Mr Obama has already sat down the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and General David Petraeus, head of US Central Command since he was sworn in as president last week.
Living up to a key campaign promise, Mr Obama directed the generals to start formulating a plan to get most US combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months.
'The next step in that process will be going to meet directly with commanders and planners at the Pentagon,' said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
He also said that White House officials would also sit down with General David McKiernan, who commands Nato forces and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
Mr Obama has pledged to boost US forces in the country, amid deteriorating security.
He argued last week that the war in Afghanistan could not be separated from the volatile border area with Pakistan, where Al-Qaeda and Taleban elements have regrouped, in the central front in the US struggle against terrorism. -- AFP
