US tests two Afghan scenarios in war game

The Pentagons top military officer oversaw a secret war game this month to evaluate the two primary military options that have been put forward by the Pentagon and are being weighed by the Obama administration as part of a broad-based review of the faltering Afghanistan war,senior military officials said.

The exercise,led by chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen,examined the likely outcome of inserting 44,000 more troops into the country to conduct a full-scale counter-insurgency effort aimed at building a stable Afghan government that can control most of the country. It also examined adding 10,000 to 15,000 more soldiers and Marines as part of an approach that the military has dubbed counter-terrorism plus.

The Pentagon war game it tried to gauge how Taliban fighters,the Afghan and Pakistani governments and NATO allies might react to either of the scenarios.

One of the exercises key assumptions is that an increase of 10,000 to 15,000 troops would not in the near future give US commanders the forces they need to take back havens from the Taliban commanders in southern and western Afghanistan.

Administration officials say Obama might settle on a plan but delay announcing it until after a runoff in the Afghan national elections,scheduled for November 7. The President is to begin a 10-day trip to Asia on November 11.