According to the New York Times, Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s new report calling for an overhaul of the US war strategy in Afghanistan could form the basis on which President Obama decides to send more troops to fight. The classified assessment submitted by McChrystal on Monday did not request additional US troops, but officials and analysts said it effectively laid the groundwork for such a request in coming weeks.

Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution: “We’re going to have to find some additional resources in other ways, and that may mean more Afghan troops, it may mean more NATO troops from other countries, or it may mean more Americans.”

The US currently has about 65,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, more than half of whom have been deployed since President Obama took office in January. August was the deadliest month of the war for US troops since the invasion of Afghanistan almost eight years ago. In the first eight months of this year, 182 US personnel have died there, compared with 155 during all of 2008.