THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama set out a bold new strategy to "disrupt, defeat and dismantle" al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday by raising the US military force in Afghanistan to more than 60,000 personnel.
In his first major announcement as America's new commander-in-chief, Mr Obama said the situation in Afghanistan was "increasingly perilous" and required an extra 4,000 soldiers to join the additional 17,000 combat troops the United States had already committed to tackle the most dangerous provinces in eastern Afghanistan, and Helmand and Kandahar in the south.
The US President sent a mesasge to extremists as he promised to rout out the "cancer that risks killing Pakistan from within" by increasing aid to the country to $1.5 billion (£1 billion) a year over five years.
Britain was likely to be pressed to send up to 2,000 more combat troops, bringing its force levels to 10,000 in southern Afghanistan. Mr Obama was expected to appeal directly to Gordon Brown when they meet at the G20 summit in London next week.
Mr Obama resisted sending in the 30,000 reinforcements initially recommended by military commanders and said he would reassess troop levels over the next year.
It marked the moment when Mr Obama took "ownership" of the war in Afghanistan and responsibility for its end, but he did not repeat an earlier reference to finding an "exit strategy". Some on the Left feared that it could doom his presidency in the way that Vietnam affected President Lyndon Johnson's. Mr Obama said the 4,000 extra troops would be deployed in a training role with the Afghan police and the national army, which the US wanted to double in size to 134,000 men in the next two years. >>> By Toby Harnden in Washington | Friday, March 27, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH:
Pakistan Intelligence Agency Elements Must Stop Support for Taliban, al-Qaeda: US: Pakistan's intelligence agency has been giving support to the Taliban and al-Qaeda and must stop doing so, senior American officers have warned.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General David Petraeus, head of US Central Command, said that elements within the Inter-Services Intelligence agency must end their support for Islamic militants.
American commanders have rarely spoken in public about assistance which the ISI still gives to Taliban fighters for fear of damaging co-operation with Pakistan. But it is an open secret in Pakistan where many believe the agency plays a devious game by supporting both sides in the Afghanistan conflict. >>> Telegraph reporter and agencies | Saturday, March 28, 2009
