Obama says US must renew fight against al Qaeda

President Barack Obama sought to rally Americans behind the war in Afghanistan on the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States as polls show faltering public support for the conflict.

"Let us renew our resolve against those who perpetrated this barbaric act and plot against us still," Mr Obama said yesterday at a sombre remembrance ceremony attended by about 500 people under rain-filled skies at the Pentagon.

"In pursuit of al Qaeda and its extremist allies we will never falter," he said, before laying a wreath at a memorial for those killed at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

On that day, American Airlines Flight 77 from Washington's Dulles International Airport smashed into the US military headquarters, killing 125 people, along with the plane's 59 passengers and crew and the five hijackers.

Al Qaeda hijackers took control of four passenger planes on September 11, crashing two into the World Trade Centre in New York and a third into the Pentagon. A fourth, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after the passengers and crew tried to retake control of the plane.

In all, about 3,000 people were killed.

The edginess that remains after the September 11 attacks was clear yesterday when the US Coast Guard set off a security scare with a training exercise in the heart of the US capital. The exercise took place on the Potomac River near the Pentagon, close to the time Mr Obama was there.

In New York, relatives of those who died in the World Trade Centre attack took turns reading the names of the victims, adding personal remarks of remembrance for their loved ones, while flutists and violinists played solemn music.

The reading of the names took place in a small park across the street from the World Trade Centre site, which is now a huge construction area where four skyscrapers and a national museum and memorial plaza are planned.

But as Americans mark this year's anniversary, there is growing disquiet over the eight-year-old war in Afghanistan, which the US invaded in response to the September 11 attacks to root out al Qaeda and topple their Taliban backers.

Opinion polls show waning public support for the war that former President George W. Bush launched as part of his global "war on terror" that came to define his presidency.

The White House is in an internal debate over whether to send additional troops to try to quell the escalating violence, as the top US military commander in Afghanistan is expected to ask for thousands more. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said yesterday, however, that no decision on troop levels was expected for "many, many weeks."