For weeks, US President Barack Obama has been weighing up whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, in what could be one of the most important decisions of his presidency.
But in a dramatic intervention last week, US ambassador in Kabul Karl Eikenberry (seen on screen) warned the White House that sending thousands more troops was �not a good idea�.
Top US commander in Afghanistan Gen Stanley McChrystal (left), who had asked for 40,000 more troops, is said to be fuming. The two men are reported to have clashed in the past, when Mr Eikenberry (right) was Afghanistan's military commander.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates (right) and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Adm Mike Mullen (left), are said to favour sending a slightly lower number of troops to Afghanistan, possibly 30,000.
Gen David Petraeus, head of US Central Command, is credited with turning around the war in Iraq with his "surge" strategy. But, in public at least, he has kept out of the Afghan debate, saying recently it was a decision for politicians to make.
Ambassador Eikenberry is understood to have argued that the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, recently re-elected after a discredited poll, must prove it is serious about fighting corruption.
With Americans increasingly weary of the eight-year-old war, other leaks have revealed Vice-President Joe Biden shares frustration with Mr Karzai's government, and prefers to target militants, not send more troops.
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