奥巴马对阿富汗战略最后期限将至

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It is his most agonizing decision to date--whether to send thousands more US troops to Afghanistan, where over 800 have already died. In his search for an answer, the president's leaving no stone unturned. Over the past month, he's held eight separate meetings of his war council--discussions with his most senior advisors that already lasted 22 hours: a slow but very deliberate process behind closed doors. Private views though are coming out in public. A memo from America's ambassador to Kabul: the latest leak--Karl Eikenberry warns the president not to send more troops without progress by the Afghan government in tackling corruption--more proof that the president’s advisors are split.

"His cabinet is divided. It has taken a long time to make this decision. And during that time, support for the war has decreased, especially among his core constituency--Democrats and those on the left."

It's a complex decision for the president who's been getting conflicting advice. On one side, the skeptics--those not yet convinced more troops should be sent. As well as Ambassador Eikenberry, they include Joe Biden and the president's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. On the other side, those arguing for a military build-up led by General McChrystal. The Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Hillary Clinton are also broadly on his side. Clear differences, but one issue around which they all unite: President Karzai must change.

"I think that the corruption issue really goes to the heart of whether the people of Afghanistan feel that the government is on their side, is working for them."

This afternoon, the president left Washington for Asia. The decision is still weighing heavily on his mind.

When the president returns in just over a week, he will have to make that decision sooner rather than later. The longer he leaves it, the more these differences will blend into public, and harder it will be for his team to unite around that long-awaited Afghan policy.

Glossary [only for reference]

 date [transitive]: to write or print the date on something

search [singular]: an attempt to find an explanation or solution

leave no stone unturned: to do everything you can in order to find something or to solve a problem

deliberate: intended or planned

behind closed doors: if something happens behind closed doors, it happens in private and the public are not allowed in

leak [countable]: a situation in which secret information is deliberately given to a newspaper, television company etc

split [intransitive and transitive]: if a group of people splits, or if it is split, people in the group disagree strongly with each other and the group sometimes divides into separate smaller groups

constituency [countable]: any group that supports or is likely to support a politician or a political party

skeptic [countable]: a person who disagrees with particular claims and statements, especially those that are generally thought to be true

build-up [countable usually singular]: an increase over a period of time

broadly: in a general way, relating to the main facts rather than details
heart [singular]: the most important or central part of a problem, question etc

weigh on somebody/something [phrasal verb]: to make someone feel worried and upset

sooner rather than later: after a short time rather than after a long time

long-awaited [only before noun]: a long-awaited event, moment etc is one that you have been waiting a long time for