Obama says tough decisions soon on Iraq, Afghan wars

By Ross Colvin and David Alexander

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States must make tough decisions immediately about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Barack Obama said on Wednesday after being briefed by his military chiefs.

Obama, who is weighing accelerating the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and boosting U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was speaking during his first visit to the Pentagon as president.

"We are going to have some difficult decisions that we are going to have to make surrounding Iraq and Afghanistan most immediately," he said after a nearly two-hour meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Obama will make a statement "relatively shortly" on the speed of troop withdrawals from Iraq and on overhauling the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told a news conference earlier.

Obama's visit to the Pentagon was low-key, compared to his trip to the State Department last week, possibly signaling his intention to stress diplomacy over military power in world affairs.

He appeared to take a swipe at his predecessor, former President George W. Bush, saying that for too long the United States had relied too heavily on its military to achieve its strategic objectives and too little on diplomacy.

"We have for a long time put enormous pressure on our military to carry out a whole set of missions, sometimes not with the sort of strategic support and the use of all aspects of American power to make sure that they are not carrying the full load," he said.

Obama has said he wants a responsible and phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, where violence has dipped markedly in the past year. On the presidential campaign trail, he said a complete withdrawal could be achieved within 16 months.