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WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Thursday forcefully rejected criticism from former vice president Dick Cheney and other Republicans that President Obama's Afghanistan decision is taking too long.
"What vice president Cheney calls dithering, President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public," Gibbs said. "I think we've all seen what happens when somebody doesn't take that responsibility seriously."

BACKGROUND: Cheney: Don't 'dither' on Afghan policy
THE OVAL: Obama says he may have Afghan strategy before Nov. 7 vote
The previous top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, submitted a request for more troops that went unfulfilled by former President George W. Bush. Obama partly granted that request in March when he ordered an additional 21,000 U.S. troops to go to Afghanistan this year.

Cheney said in a speech Wednesday night that Obama needs to "do what it takes to win" and that "signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries."

Cheney also took issue with statements out of the White House that the Obama administration had to start from scratch to develop a strategy for the 8-year-old war. The Bush administration presented to Obama's transition team the review of the Afghanistan war that it undertook just before leaving office and was asked to keep it under wraps, Cheney said.

"I have not looked at that review," Gibbs said. "I don't know whether what he describes is accurate."

Gibbs said Cheney's comments were curious because the vice president wasn't focused on Afghanistan for seven years while he was in office and "given the fact that an increase in troops sat on desks in this White House, including the vice president's, for more than eight months, a resource request filled by President Obama in March."

Meanwhile, Obama worked Thursday on a strategy to prevent fraud from occurring in Afghanistan in its runoff presidential election set for Nov. 7.

In an hourlong videoconference from the White House Situation Room, Obama and other top advisers heard a briefing and recommendations from the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry. Gibbs would not specify what steps the U.S. is taking with Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission to avoid the problems that plagued the original election on Aug. 20. President Hamid Karzai faces his main challenger, ex-Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, in the runoff.

Though the Obama administration hopes it will end weeks of acrimony over Afghanistan's election, officials are under no illusion that merely re-staging the vote will produce a legitimate partner as the U.S. tries to stabilize the country and keep the Taliban from re-taking control and re-establishing a safe haven for al-Qaeda.

"Having a partner is going to take more than just an election," Gibbs said.

Regardless, Obama is not necessarily going to put off his decision on whether to send more troops to Afghanistan until after the run-off election, as some — including Democratic Sen. John Kerry— have strongly suggested he do.

"It could be before the runoff. It might be after the runoff," Gibbs said.

Faced with dwindling public support for the 8-year-old war, Obama's national security team is weighing whether the United States should send more troops to the region. His team is considering as few as 10,000 and as many as 80,000 more Americans in the region, as well as whether to order more forces to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan or to focus more narrowly on al-Qaeda terrorists believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

The U.S. already has about 68,000 troops in Afghanistan, and NATO nations have supplied 36,000 more.

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