The US ambassador to Afghanistan, who once served as the top US military commander there, has expressed in writing his reservations about deploying additional troops to the country, three senior US officials said on Wednesday.

The position of the ambassador, Karl Eikenberry, a retired lieutenant general, puts him in opposition to the current US and NATO commander in Afghanistan Gen Stanley McChrystal, who has asked for 40,000 more troops. Eikenberry sent his reservations to Washington last week, officials said.

In that same period, Barack Obama and his national security advisors began examining an option that would send relatively few troops to Afghanistan, about 10,000 to 15,000, with most designated as trainers for Afghan security forces.

This low-end option was one of four alternatives under consideration by Obama and his war council at a meeting in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday. The other three options call for troop levels of around 20,000, 30,000 and 40,000, the three officials said.

Pentagon officials said the low-end option of 10,000 to 15,000 more troops would mean little or no significant increase in US combat forces in Afghanistan. The bulk of the additional forces would go to train the Afghan army, with a smaller number focused on hunting and killing terrorists, the officials said. NYT

Norway says abducted journalist freed in Afghanistan

Oslo: A Norwegian freelance journalist kidnapped a week ago in eastern Afghanistan was released on Thursday along with his Afghan interpreter, the Foreign Ministry said. The two men were abducted near the border with Pakistan, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ragnhild Imerslund said. Both were released after “Norwegian authorities worked very hard and intensely” to secure their freedom, Imerslund said. She declined to name the men or their abductors.

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