WASHINGTON, July 21: The United States plans to send 11,000 additional troops to Afghanistan during the next fiscal year which begins on Oct 1, says the Pentagon.

Currently, there are roughly 35,000 US troops in Afghanistan — 23,550 assigned to International Security Assistance Force and another 18,500 assigned to the Combined Joint Task Force 101, US command in the country.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the US would like to increase the troop level in Afghanistan by two brigade combat teams and about 4,000 trainers in 2009.

Other Pentagon officials said that the decision to increase troops in Afghanistan is also linked to a planned withdrawal of American troops from Iraq where the situation is stabilising.

A leading candidate for the 2008 US presidential election, Barack Obama, said on Monday that he also backs calls for withdrawing American troops from Iraq and deploy them to the war in Afghanistan.

Mr Obama and his fellow Senators Chuck Hagel and Jack Reed issued a statement supporting the demands for more troops for Afghanistan after a lunch with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday.

“Our message to the Afghan government is this: We want a strong partnership based on ‘more for more’ — more resources from the United States and Nato, and more action from the Afghan government to improve the lives of the Afghan people,” they said.

At the Pentagon, officials told reporters they believe units currently on tap to deploy to Iraq could be shifted to Afghanistan if security gains in Iraq hold steady. However, the services cannot just shift a unit training to deploy for Iraq to Afghanistan, Mr Whitman said, adding that it is not so easy to repurpose a force in the midst of training. Forces deploy for combat training to accomplish specific tasks, which are different in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

The enemy, terrain and missions are different, Mr Whitman said. Soldiers would have to familiarise themselves with different languages, cultures and ways of doing business. Units would deploy under different command arrangements and have different nationalities as allies.

Units often work months in advance with the units they are replacing. This, too, would have to be modified, the Pentagon spokesman said on background.

A Pentagon report said that US and international leaders agree on the need for more troops in Afghanistan. A statement released at the end of the Nato Summit in Bucharest in April stressed the need for allies to provide troops needed in Afghanistan.

The Nato-led ISAF in Afghanistan has unmet requirements for more forces, including three combat battalions. The Nato force also needs more helicopters and airlift assets.

ISAF, which includes such non-Nato allies as Australia, New Zealand, Jordan and 11 other nations, needs troops capable of engaging in full-spectrum combat operations, the officials said.