New U.S. strategy pleases Afghanistan, Pakistan

KABUL - Afghanistan and Pakistan on Saturday praised the new U.S. strategy for dealing with growing violence in the two countries, with the Afghan president saying the plan to reconcile with moderate Taliban militants was better than expected and his Pakistani counterpart focusing on using development to fight extremism.

President Obama announced the new strategy Friday with the hope of reversing the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, where violence has been increasing from Taliban militants who fled the 2001 U.S.-led invasion and have been launching cross-border attacks from sanctuaries in Pakistan.

The violence provides cover for al-Qaida operatives who Obama said are also holed up in Pakistan and planning attacks against the U.S. and other countries. The overarching goal of the new strategy is to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" al-Qaida in the region by increasing civilian and military assistance on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border.

But serious questions remain, including whether the new effort will convince Pakistan to crack down on militants operating in its territory and whether the U.S. and Afghanistan can agree on which Taliban fighters should be approached for reconciliation.

In addition to focusing on reconciliation Saturday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai praised pledges of increased and better-coordinated assistance to his country under the new U.S. plan and Obama's focus on countering militant sanctuaries in Pakistan.

"This is better than we were expecting as a matter of fact," Karzai told a news conference.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said billions of dollars in additional civilian aid will help his government fight extremism and promised he would not allow Pakistani territory to be used for terrorism - though offered no new measures.

"The U.S. presidency's new approach represents a positive change," Zardari said in a speech to Parliament.

Karzai has long championed the idea of reconciliation with the Taliban as a key way to tamp down the growing insurgency in Afghanistan. The Bush administration generally opposed the idea, but Obama stressed reconciliation with more moderate elements of the Taliban on Friday.

The reconciliation proposal is arguably the most novel part of the new plan, which is focused mostly on increasing the scale of ongoing initiatives - promising 4,000 additional troops to train the Afghan army, hundreds more civilian specialists to help Afghanistan rebuild and $1.5 billion in annual civilian aid to Pakistan for the next five years.

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