McChrystal's request for more troops temporarily shelved

U.S. and NATO Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal's long-awaited report containing a request for additional troops on Saturday was submitted to the Pentagon, but the Defense Department will hold it until the Obama administration reconfigures its Afghan strategy.

Spokesman Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis told media outlets today that McChrystal hand delivered the report to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Adm. James Stavridis.

In the report, which was leaked to the Washington Post on Monday, McChrystal warned of  "mission failure" if the size of the allied force in Afghanistan remains the same. 

The White House, however, has asserted that it will review the nation's entire Afghan strategy before considering McChrystal's request.But top Republican lawmakers have been pressuring the administration to act quickly.

"Right now the focus is on the strategic assessment itself. [The troop request] will be shelved until such time that the White House is ready," a defense official told Reuters.

"It is not going to be addressed, or reviewed, or analyzed until the White House is ready to begin discussing it," the official added. 

Allied forces in the war-torn country have experienced heavy losses in the last couple of months. But President Barack Obama described himself last week as a "skeptical audience" of the troop request.