McChrystal and Obama meet to talk Afghanistan

Gen. Stanley McChrystal met with President Barack Obama on Friday, discussing the U.S. strategy for Afghanistan in a 25-minute meeting.

McChrystal, the commander of allied forces in Afghanistan, met with the president aboard Air Force One in Copenhagen, Denmark shortly before Obama returned to the U.S. after pitching for his native Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid.

The conversation comes as the Obama administration mulls its options after McChrystal requested as many as 40,000 more troops for the military effort in Afghanistan, warning that the longstanding engagement there would fail without more forces.

The meeting also represents one of the first prolonged, one-on-one meetings between the general and the commander-in-chief, a previous lack of which had stirred some criticism from conservatives.

"The president wanted to take the opportunity to get together with Gen. McChrystal," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters on Air Force One, according to the Associated Press.

McChrystal had already been in London to discuss the Afghanistan effort before being summoned to Denmark to meet with Obama.