The bombing comes as the Obama administration considers plans to order thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan. The New York Times reports the proposals under consideration include a so-called “low risk” option that would send 45,000 troops. On Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he was open to a troop increase and defended the continued occupation.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates: “I absolutely do not think it is time to get out of Afghanistan. And I think that the notion that you can conduct a purely counter-terrorist kind of campaign and do it from a distance simply does not accord with reality.”

Gates’s comments came hours after the Pentagon said it will extend the tours of some 3,000 soldiers in Afghanistan for up to two months.