Obama to deploy 4,000 troops to train Afghan army

President Barack Obama unveiled a new war strategy for Afghanistan yesterday with one key goal - to crush al Qaeda militants there and in Pakistan who, he said, were plotting new attacks on the United States.

Mr Obama said the US military in Afghanistan would also shift the emphasis of its mission to training and expanding the Afghan army so that it could take the lead in counter-insurgency operations and allow US troops to leave.

"The situation is increasingly perilous," Mr Obama said in a sombre speech in which he sought to explain to Americans why he was boosting US involvement in the seven-year-old war and expanding its focus to include Pakistan.

Mr Obama plans to send 4,000 more US troops to train the army, along with hundreds of civilian personnel to improve the Afghan government's delivery of basic services. The force will be in addition to the 17,000 combat troops Mr Obama has already ordered sent to Afghanistan.

The United States will also reach out to Afghanistan's neighbours, step up military and financial aid to stabilize Pakistan, and ask Nato allies to send more troops for elections due in August and to help train the Afghan security forces.

EU countries said yesterday they were ready to step up their presence in Afghanistan to complement the new US plan.

The new strategy comes with violence in Afghanistan at its highest level since US-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 for sheltering al Qaeda leaders behind the September 11 attacks on the United States. The militia has escalated its attacks, often operating from safe havens in border regions of Pakistan.

"The world cannot afford the price that will come due if Afghanistan slides back into chaos or al Qaeda operates unchecked," Mr Obama said.

Mr Obama said the United States, together with the United Nations, planned to form a "contact group" bringing together countries with a stake in the security of the region, including long-time US foe Iran, Russia, India and China.

He said his new strategy had a "clear and focused goal" - to disrupt, dismantle and eventually defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Multiple intelligence estimates had warned that al Qaeda was actively planning attacks on the United States from safe havens in the mountainous border regions of Pakistan, he said.

"For the American people, this border region has become the most dangerous place in the world. But this is not simply an American problem. The safety of the world is at stake."

The plan puts Mr Obama's stamp on a war he inherited from his Republican predecessor George W. Bush, whom he criticised for becoming distracted by the Iraq war and failing to devote enough resources to the military effort in Afghanistan.

Analysts say the success or failure of Obama's Afghan policy will likely help define Mr Obama's presidency, although it is his handling of the US economic crisis that will be the centrepiece of his term.

Mr Obama set no timetable for the strategy but he said the United States would not "blindly stay the course" and would set benchmarks for the Afghan government to crack down on corruption and ensure it used foreign aid to help its people.

He said key to defeating al Qaeda was strengthening the weak civilian government of President Asif Ali Zardari in Pakistan, where he said al Qaeda and its allies were a "cancer that risks killing Pakistan from within."

The United States would give military aid to Pakistan to help it combat al Qaeda and economic assistance in coordination with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.