Obama satisfied with 'slow and steady' progress in Afghanistan security

The White House said Thursday that President Barack Obama is satisfied with the progress the U.S. is making in Afghanistan and that the 30,000-troop buildup he ordered last year is “on pace.”

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama, who met with his Afghanistan and Pakistan security team earlier in the day in the White House situation room, heard nothing from his commanders that would prompt him to change his war strategy.

Gibbs said that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, told the president that progress in the region has been “slow and steady."

"I think that's likely what we will see for the remainder of the year," Gibbs said.

Obama was told that U.S. forces are "slightly ahead" of schedule in training a national Afghan security force that includes both the army and police. The president also was told the “force-flow” of additional troops is on schedule, Gibbs said, "which is something that has obviously been of great concern to the president."

Obama is set to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the White House next week.

In December, the president announced his plan to boost by 30,000 the number of U.S. troops in the region, with a withdrawal beginning in July 2011.