**US President Barack Obama has delivered a speech spelling out his review of Afghan strategy and has ordered a surge of 30,000 additional US soldiers.**Mr Obama also set out how the US would approach its exit strategy and urged allies to send more soldiers.
The new deployment over six months will bring America’s troop strength in the country to more than 100,000, in the fight against Taliban militants.
Mr Obama believes the surge will help prepare the handover to Afghan forces.
Taliban threat
Mr Obama delivered his nationally televised speech to cadets at the West Point military academy in New York.
He began by stressing that the US was in Afghanistan because of the 9/11 attacks on America by al-Qaeda militants.
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“The danger for the president is that this middling figure will annoy hawks, while annoying those who think any new build-up is undesirable”
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“Al-Qaeda’s base of operations was in Afghanistan, where they were harboured by the Taliban - a ruthless, repressive and radical movement,” he said.
After being “driven from power and pushed back on its heels”, the Taliban had returned, backed by al-Qaeda from its new base in Pakistan, he said.
“Gradually, the Taliban has begun to take control over swaths of Afghanistan, while engaging in increasingly brazen and devastating acts of terrorism against the Pakistani people,” Mr Obama said.
However, he added: “Afghanistan is not lost but for several years it has moved backwards.”
US forces, he said, lacked “the full support they need to effectively train and partner with Afghan security forces and better secure the population”.
“I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan,” he told the cadets.
“After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home.”
Mr Obama said he was aware of the gravity of his decision to send the extra troops.
“I make this decision because I am convinced that our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said.
“This is the epicentre of the violent extremism practised by al-Qaeda.”
‘Common security at stake’
Calling on America’s allies to boost their troop commitment, Mr Obama said: "Some have already provided additional troops, and we are confident that there will be further contributions in the days and weeks ahead.
“Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly”
Barack Obama
“Our friends have fought and bled and died alongside us in Afghanistan. Now, we must come together to end this war successfully. For what’s at stake is not simply a test of Nato’s credibility - what’s at stake is the security of our allies, and the common security of the world.”
Mr Obama said the US would take the Iraq experience as its model for withdrawal.
“Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground,” he said.
America, added, “will continue to advise and assist Afghanistan’s security forces to ensure that they can succeed over the long haul”.
“But it will be clear to the Afghan government - and, more importantly, to the Afghan people - that they will ultimately be responsible for their own country,” he stressed.
‘Not Vietnam’
Some in America feared that the country was being drawn into a new Vietnam, Mr Obama said.
TROOP NUMBERS IN AFGHANISTAN
- US: More than 100,000 by July 2010
- Other foreign (mainly Nato): Some 32,000 currently, with a British offer of 500 more
- Afghan National Army: 94,000
Map: Foreign forces in Afghanistan
“They argue that it cannot be stabilised, and we are better off cutting our losses and rapidly withdrawing,” he said.
"Yet this argument depends upon a false reading of history. Unlike Vietnam, we are joined by a broad coalition of 43 nations that recognises the legitimacy of our action.
"Unlike Vietnam, we are not facing a broad-based popular insurgency.
“And most importantly, unlike Vietnam, the American people were viciously attacked from Afghanistan, and remain a target for those same extremists who are plotting along its border.”
The US president warned that the fight against extremism would be neither easy nor quick, and that it extended far beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“It will be an enduring test of our free society, and our leadership in the world,” he said.
Other priorities he outlined included enhancing US domestic security, preventing nuclear materials falling into the hands of terrorists and forging better ties with the Muslim world.
Domestic unease
Mr Obama reached his deployment decision after more than three months of deliberations and 10 top-level meetings with advisers.
“Western occupation has become a role of “nation-building”, not combat”
**Mark Bennett
BBC News website reader, Kentucky **
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It is the second time he is increasing the US contingent in Afghanistan after a reinforcement of 17,000 troops in February.
Some 32,000 other foreign troops are serving in Afghanistan but Nato allies have been cautious about contributing further forces.
Earlier, the US president outlined his new strategy to Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in an hour-long video conference.
He told Mr Karzai that US efforts in Afghanistan were not “open-ended” and would be measured against goals over a two-year period, the White House said.
Rising violence - more than 900 US soldiers have died in Afghanistan - and August’s discredited elections have fanned mounting domestic opposition to the eight-year-old war.
Nato officials said on Tuesday that President Obama had asked European allies to contribute between 5,000 and 10,000 new troops to Afghanistan.
But France ruled out deploying more combat soldiers, though it might send military trainers, while Germany said it would wait until after a 28 January conference in London on Afghanistan before deciding on any troop increases.
On Monday, Britain confirmed it was sending 500 more troops, taking the UK’s total deployment to 10,000.
Italy has also said it will increase its force, although without saying by how much.