White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Wednesday clarified that U.S. President Barack Obama has not reached any final decision on U.S. military troop restructuring with regard to Afghanistan and Iraq. Gibbs' comments came a day after Obama addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress, where he said that he'd follow up with one of his key campaign promises to withdraw from Iraq, and focus U.S. military attention in Afghanistan. In his Congressional address, Obama said he will soon “announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war.” Despite reports that point to Obama soon announcing phased withdrawals from Iraq, Gibbs said that no final announcement or plan has been set. Obama “continues to work through that process” of deciding on a troop plan for Afghanistan, Gibbs said. Obama last week authorized the deployment of 17,000 additional troops in Afghanistan, meant to be on the ground there in the coming months.
