Washington: February 17, 2009 - As President Barack Obama planned to sign the $787 billion economic stimulus package Tuesday, his aides said he was nearing another big decision — on troop levels in Afghanistan.

The president will sign the stimulus bill into law in the western city of Denver, suggesting that Obama will continue taking his economic message to the American people, who are giving him high marks for handling the crisis. The symbolism is obvious for Denver's state, Colorado, where a growing green-energy industry will draw major benefits from the stimulus.

Last week's passage of the stimulus — unprecedented in its cost to the federal treasury — was a major victory for Obama as he struggles to lift the United States out of an economic nosedive not seen since the 1930s Great Depression.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration continues to review its policy toward Afghanistan, some seven years after U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban-led government. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs cautioned that no firm timetable had been set, nor had administration officials settled on how many — if any — new troops would be involved.

"Without getting into broad time lines, I wouldn't — I don't think this is anything that involves weeks," Gibbs told reporters traveling with the president on Air Force One back from Chicago, where the Obama family spent a long weekend in their hometown. Monday was a U.S. holiday, Presidents Day.

In Afghanistan, Taliban insurgents have regained ground and the new Obama administration is contemplating doubling troop levels as part of a strategy to reclaim control. Addressing the ongoing war there is one of the administration's top priorities.

Anticipation of the troop build-up in Afghanistan has been high since Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last Tuesday that Obama was days away from announcing his decision. Yet no formal announcement has emerged.

Gibbs noted that U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke is in the region talking with leaders about how best to address the situation. Obama also has met with military leaders and his foreign policy advisers, both at the Defense and State departments.

Obama has been widely believed to be preparing to send fresh forces to the Afghan battle even as a broad review of U.S. strategy and goals there gets fully under way. Gates had told a Pentagon news conference last week that Obama "will have several options in front of him." Gates suggested, as have other officials, that the ground commander in Afghanistan would eventually get all the forces he has asked for, but no more.

Lt. Gen. David McKiernan wants more fighting forces and support troops such as helicopter crews to push back against the Taliban in Afghanistan's increasingly dangerous south and eastern regions. More