That push follows strong reservations about a possible troop buildup expressed by the U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, according to a second top administration official. In classified cables to Washington, Eikenberry said he had misgivings about sending in new troops while there are still so many questions about the leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Obama is still close to announcing his revamped war strategy - most likely shortly after he returns from a trip to Asia that ends on Nov. 19.

But the president raised questions at a war council meeting yesterday that could alter the dynamic of both how many additional troops are sent to Afghanistan and what the timeline would be for their presence in the war zone, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Obama's thinking.

In Afghanistan, meanwhile, military divers have found the body of a U.S. paratrooper who disappeared last week along with another soldier as the two tried to retrieve air-dropped supplies from a river in western Afghanistan, NATO said yesterday.

Relatives said they believe that Spc. Benjamin Sherman of Plymouth, Mass., died after jumping into the river to try to save his comrade, who was also swept away by the current.

Afghan and international forces are still searching for the second missing paratrooper in the remote, Taliban-infested province of Badghis, which borders Turkmenistan. He has not been identified.