JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — President Obama defended taking his time as he rethinks his strategy in Afghanistan and considers whether to send more troops, telling a military audience on Monday that he would not “rush the solemn decision of sending you into harm’s way.”
“I won’t risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary,” Mr. Obama said. “And if it necessary, we will back you up to the hilt.”
The president’s speech at Naval Air Station Jacksonville offered few clues about where the review of his policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan was heading. He flew here after huddling with his national security advisers at the White House in the sixth such session in the last six weeks, and the first since President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan agreed to participate in a runoff election.
Whether Mr. Obama plans to make his decision before that vote on Nov. 7, or before the results are finalized a couple weeks later, remains uncertain. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said the decision “could come at any moment” but then added that it could still be weeks away.
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