Petraeus: Pres. Obama 'nearing a decision' on Afghan troop levels

President Barack Obama will soon come to a decision on whether to deploy additional troops to Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus said Wednesday.

On his way to the eighth meeting of the president's war council -- a collection of Pentagon and State Department advisers, military commanders and White House officials -- the head of U.S. Central Command briefly told CNN, "I think we are indeed nearing a decision on this very important topic."

Petreaus' assurance on Wednesday arrives about a day after White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs informed reporters that the president had narrowed his Afghanistan strategy options down to just four choices.

At the time, Gibbs declined to provide details as to what troop adjustments -- if any -- those four options might include. But a host of reports since Tuesday's briefing have revealed at least three of the White House's proposals include a modest troop increase -- two below Gen. Stanley McChrystal's minimum deployment request of 40,000, and one that met the Afghan mission commander's lowest recommendation.

While the president and his advisers discuss those plans, Republicans have ramped up their offensive, accusing Obama of dithering and urging him to provide McChrystal the resources he first requested in a private memo, which reporters first unearthed in September.

Ten Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee even echoed those concerns in a letter delivered to the president this morning, timed to coincide with Veteran's Day.

"We understand that sending men and women into harm's way is the most difficult decision that a commander-in-chief must make," the lawmakers wrote. "However, over 68,000 Americans are already serving in harm's way in Afghanistan, and the sooner we can provide the reinforcements and resources they need, the safer and more successful they will be."

But Petraeus on Wednesday -- while acknowledging the magnitude of the president's decision -- insisted the war council's strategy talks had been "very productive and very useful." He called the debate "excellent," and he seemed to support the president's general handling of the Afghan troop decision.

"There has been a refinement of objectives, there's been discussion of various courses of action, there have been explanations and discussions about how the civilian component of this will complement what is done by the work of our military troops," the general told CNN in a pre-recorded interview. "All in all, I think this has been a very productive couple of months that we have spent on this."

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