* Republicans want generals to testify * Gates says it is "inappropriate" * Pressure mounts on Obama over decision By Sue Pleming and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Leading Republican lawmakers on Thursday raised the pressure on President Barack Obama to make a decision on Afghanistan strategy, demanding his generals testify in Congress as the president weighs his next move. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates flatly rejected the request and said it was inappropriate as Obama decides how to turn around an increasingly unpopular war that his generals say will be lost without a clearer strategy and more resources. "Until the president makes his decision on the way forward in Afghanistan, it would be inappropriate for me -- or our military commanders -- to openly discuss the advice being provided or the nature of the discussions," Gates said in a letter to Democratic Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid. Influential Republican Sen. John McCain, who lost the presidential election to Obama last year, said the generals and others should appear in Congress no later than Nov. 15. "We're asking sometime within the next 45 days an appearance by the leaders we have put in charge of the lives of our young American men and women," said McCain, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee." House Minority Leader Republican Rep. John Boehner, said the American people needed to understand the challenges ahead and hear from the key general in Congress as soon as possible. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin sought to squash McCain's request, attaching an amendment to a defense spending bill that said Obama's generals and others should testify after a decision was made, not before. "The secretary of defense is not going to allow it, nor should he, and we're not going to ask it," said Levin. Some Democrats have also backed calls for U.S. General Stanley McChrystal, the head of Afghan operations, to testify. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said last week it would be useful "at some point in time" for it to happen. TOO LONG, SAY REPUBLICANS Republicans have accused Obama of taking too long to decide what to do in Afghanistan while many Democrats have backed his deliberate approach. Obama met his national security team on Wednesday in the first of a series of sessions over the coming weeks to map out future strategy, with options ranging from sending in additional troops to scaling back. "The president heard from, by my count, 17 different people as part of that meeting. I think it was ... exceedingly productive," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. The next meeting is on Oct. 7 and Obama is weeks away from making a decision, particularly as the administration seeks clarity after the Aug. 20 election in Afghanistan. The head of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, McChrystal, has given a grave assessment of the effort and is expected to ask for 30,000 to 40,000 more troops and trainers. General David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, said on Thursday he expected two more sessions with Obama next week, adding that a decision had not yet been taken on force numbers but that this was about to be "introduced into the equation." The Obama administration is also grappling with fallout after the election and questions over the legitimacy of incumbent Hamid Karzai, who is expected to win despite widespread allegations of fraud. Petraeus said in an interview with NBC the government in Kabul needed to be seen as legitimate, "which is not the case right now, by and large, in many areas.""President Karzai himself -- in fact I met with his foreign minister yesterday -- would be the first to say there has to be a substantial effort to combat corruption and achieve again this sense of legitimacy in the eyes of the people," he said. The election could still go to a run-off, an option some U.S. officials see as the best chance to boost the legitimacy of the government. Republican Rep. Dana Rohrbacher demanded a second round of voting in Afghanistan. "If Mr. Karzai and his government cannot even conduct a free and fair election then we should have second thoughts about even considering sending more troops to Afghanistan. This is something we should all think about," he said. (Additional reporting by Phil Stewart, Steve Holland, Tom Ferraro and Andy Sullivan, editing by Todd Eastham) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan)
A paramilitary soldier stands holding a rocket launcher at a checkpoint in Bara, located in Pakistan's restive Khyber tribal region September 29, 2009. Hundreds of residents have left Khyber after Pakistan's ...
