By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday he expects President Barack Obama to reach a decision on extra troop deployments for Afghanistan in the next few days.
A new deployment for Afghanistan could be as small as a single combat brigade as the Obama administration moves to complete a review on Afghan strategy by April, Gates suggested as he spoke to reporters at a Pentagon briefing.
U.S. military planners have been considering sending two Army combat brigades, each with about 3,500 soldiers, and a larger Marine task force that could number close to 10,000 troops.
"The president will have several options in front of him and I think he will make those decisions probably in the course of the next few days," Gates said.
"There is a realization that some decisions have to be made before the strategic review is completed. If only because if he does decide to send at least an additional brigade combat team -- even just one -- the next one to go would need to be notified pretty quickly."
U.S. ability to build up its military presence in Afghanistan depends heavily on the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, where 146,000 U.S. troops remain on duty.
But Gates said the Obama administration has not yet begun to review options on Iraq that officials say include 23-month, 19-month and 16-month timelines for drawing down forces.
"I expect that review to take place fairly soon," Gates said. "The situation on the ground in Iraq allows us to make the next series of decisions with respect to Afghanistan with greater flexibility."
The Obama administration is looking at plans to eventually nearly double the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to about 60,000. There are currently 37,000 U.S. forces in the country as part of a western military presence of about 70,000 troops.
Gates declined to rule out further troop increases beyond the 60,000 mark but said he worried that too large a Western military presence in Afghanistan could backfire on U.S. interests.
"There is no cap," he said. "I would be deeply sceptical about further troop deployments beyond that."
On Monday, Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he did not foresee the U.S. troop increase going beyond the extra forces requested by U.S. Army General David McKiernan, the NATO commander in Afghanistan.
Pentagon officials have said extra troops are needed in Afghanistan to combat an intensifying Taliban insurgency before the spring fighting season arrives in April and May.
"Time is moving on and so in terms of being able to respond to the needs that we have on the ground," Mullen said on Tuesday during a visit to Ottawa, Canada.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Gray in Ottawa; Editing by Bill Trott and Cynthia Osterman)
