US President Barack Obama has met top national security advisers as speculation mounts over likely changes to US strategy in Afghanistan.
The president's Afghan "war council" discussed the volatile situation in neighbouring Pakistan.
It comes eight years after the start of US-led operations in Afghanistan and amid new evidence of fraud in recent elections in Afghanistan.
Last week the US commander there called for a substantial troop increase.
Gen Stanley McChrystal, appointed by Mr Obama earlier this year with a brief to revamp the US approach in Afghanistan, recently submitted a major strategy review to the president.
Pentagon officials now say a formal request for more troops - perhaps as many as 40,000, reports say - has been sent to the White House.
Wednesday's three-hour meeting focussed on Pakistan, ways to improve co-operation with Islamabad and how to continue "disrupting, dismantling and defeating al-Qaeda," a US official told Reuters news agency.
Another session on Friday will focus primarily on Afghanistan.
The meetings come as the Washington Post published voter turnout data from Afghanistan's recent presidential election.
The data, which had been kept confidential by the UN's chief envoy, Kai Eide, reflects badly on Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who in some provinces recorded tens of thousands more votes than estimates of the number of people who voted.
Afghanistan's election process has been dogged by accusations of fraud and malpractice since polling day in August.
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