The United States must consider boosting its troop presence in Afghanistan after 2016 if it intends to repel a Taliban upsurge and assure the country's military is up to fighting strength, a US commander said Tuesday.

"I do believe that we have to provide our senior leadership options different than the current plan that we're going with," which targets a reduction of troop levels to an embassy-based presence beginning in 2017, General John Campbell testified before a US Senate panel.