Updated at 6:30 p.m.

The White House now says Obama will announce his decision on troop withdrawals on Wednesday.

Our earlier post:

There are signs that President Obama is getting close to an announcement about U.S. troop withdrawals from Afghanistan.

An upstate New York television station is reporting that President Obama plans to visit Fort Drum this Thursday as he ponders the withdrawal plan he has pledged to put in place by July.

WNYF-TV of Watertown, N.Y, notes that "Fort Drum is home to the 10th Mountain Division, one of the most deployed divisions sent to Iraq and Afghanistan."

White House spokesman Jay Carney, however, discouraged the notion that the president would make his announcement at that time.

"His announcement will come soon," Carney said, adding that Obama has not made a final decision on how many troops to withdraw this year and at what pace.

This week? "I will only say that it will be soon," Carney said.

NBC News is reporting that Obama's decision could come as early as this week.

When he announced the deployment of 30,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq on Aug. 1, 2009, Obama said additional forces then "will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces, and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011. Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground."

As USA TODAY's Mimi Hall reports, Obama faces conflicting pressures when deciding how many troops to pull out of Afghanistan now, and at what pace.

There are currently about 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, three times the number that was there in late 2008.

The National Journal, citing anonymous sources, reports that Petraeus would endorse a plan to have the 30,000 additional troops announced in late 2009 to be back home by the end of 2012.

The U.S. and its international allies have pledged to turn over all security responsibilities to the Afghanistan government by the year 2014.

Obama has discussed the withdrawal plan in recent weeks with top aides, including outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates and top Afghanistan commander David Petraeus, who is slated to become the new CIA director.

"Conversations continue," said Obama spokesman Jay Carney. "The President is consulting with members of his national security team. He will have a decision soon."