U.S. President Barack Obama will discuss the U.S.'s post-2014 troop presence in Afghanistan with defense leaders on Tuesday, the White House said in a statement.
The meeting will be attended by the commander of US forces in Afghanistan General Joseph Dunford. In the past general Dunford has demanded the deployment of 10,000 US soldiers alongside another 3000 soldiers from NATO member nations in the country post-2014.
The meeting will be held after the meeting of the US National Security Council on Afghanistan which was attended by the top military commanders and defense officials.
The United States is withdrawing its troops at the end of 2014, and has negotiated a treaty with the Afghan government that would allow U.S. troops to remain in the country post 2014. But Afghan President Hamid Karzai has so far refused to sign the treaty.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said this week that the Bilateral Security Agreement needs to be signed in "weeks, not months."
"This is a complicated piece of business and there cannot be and will not be U.S. troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014 without a signed Bilateral Security Agreement," Carney said."