Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama won backing for taking as much time as necessary to develop a new strategy in Afghanistan from congressional leaders yesterday, even as lawmakers indicated little change in their own views on the war.

Leaders of the House and Senate from both parties emerged from the 90-minute White House meeting saying they are willing to give the president a bit more time. Obama is deciding whether to send more troops to the country to fight the Taliban or pursue a more limited strategy focused at rooting out al-Qaeda.

“It’s very clear that the president’s headed in the right direction, strategy before resources,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said after the session.

Senator John McCain, a leading Republican voice on military matters, said Obama should carefully weigh the recommendations of his frontline commanders, Generals David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal. The U.S. can’t afford to make less than a full commitment to Afghanistan, he said.

“Half measures is what I worry about,” McCain said. “Time is not on our side.”

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the start of the war, which was undertaken in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The administration has signaled its new policy will come within weeks at the conclusion of at least five conferences involving Obama, his top national security and foreign policy advisers and military commanders.

Third Meeting

The third such meeting is scheduled for this afternoon and includes Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, as well as Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, and McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan.

Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, said yesterday that a request by McChrystal for more troops in Afghanistan is “about to be introduced into the discussion.”

At least 68,000 U.S. troops will be in Afghanistan by December and McChrystal may request as many as 40,000 more.

Petraeus said “there is pretty general assessment” that McChrystal’s view that as many as 400,000 Afghan army and police will be needed “is in the ballpark, because by whatever math you use, he’s facing an industrial-sized insurgency.”

Divisions on Strategy

Members of Congress and the administration are divided over the U.S. approach. Vice President Joe Biden is advocating a counterterrorism approach that focuses on combating al-Qaeda through the use of drones and special forces and would avoid adding troops. In Congress, some Democrats are urging Obama to take a cautious approach and many Republicans are backing a more robust military campaign.

Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat who is co-chairman of the House Pakistan Caucus, warned that a troop increase could “reignite the war” in the Afghanistan, and that Democrats are split.

“There probably is a reasonable amount of support in the caucus” for increasing troop levels, she said in an interview. “There is also a vocal opposition.”

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said that during the group meeting and in an additional private meeting with Obama he told the president the U.S. shouldn’t send in more combat troops.

“The downside outweighs the additional value,” Levin said.

Another Surge

McCain said a version of the so-called surge strategy employed in Iraq can work in Afghanistan.

“I’m very convinced that General McChrystal’s analysis is not only correct but should be employed as quickly as possible,” the Arizona Republican said. “It’s the president’s final decision, but I certainly think that their recommendations should be given great weight.”

Administration officials have said that pulling all U.S. troops from Afghanistan isn’t under consideration, and lawmakers said that message was conveyed during their meeting.

Obama “made it very, very clear nobody is talking about pulling out, pulling up stakes,” Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, said.

Yesterday’s meeting included more than two dozen congressional leaders and heads of committees that oversee military and foreign policy. Obama gave them an outline of progress that has been made in Afghanistan and in targeting al- Qaeda, according to an administration official who gave reporters an overview of the meeting on condition of anonymity.

Terrorism Focus

Obama told the lawmakers his decision will be based on pursuing the strategy that best will prevent terrorist attacks on the U.S. and its allies, the official said.

He also said that he didn’t expect to reach a decision that would make everyone happy, according to Virginia Representative Eric Cantor, the second-ranking House Republican.

If Obama doesn’t support the recommendations of the commanders in the field, Republicans “will be listening for a compelling case of how we expect success to occur,” Cantor said.

The Taliban has been stepping up attacks on U.S. and NATO forces and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Last weekend eight American soldiers were killed in a battle with insurgents who attacked a remote outpost in northern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan.

The public is divided on the war as well, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Thirty percent of Americans are willing to keep a large number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan “as long as it takes,” while 28 percent say they would stay less than a year. Another 21 percent say the timeframe should be one to two years. In the Sept. 29-Oct. 5 poll, 38 percent want troop levels increased and 28 percent want a reduction in U.S. forces. Twenty-one percent support maintaining current levels.

“The president’s going to make a decision, popular or unpopular, based on what he thinks is in the best interest of the country,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3@bloomberg.netRoger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 7, 2009 10:49 EDT