UwidoNews

President Obama told congressional leaders Tuesday that he would not support a major reduction of troops in Afghanistan and will not shift the mission to simply hunting terrorists. He added that he remains undecided about the troop increase recommended by Gen.

NATO forces said Tuesday they had killed more that 100 fighters in a huge weekend battle in eastern Afghanistan in which eight Americans died, the deadliest firefight for U.S. troops in more than a year.

Monday Washington Post reporter of Watergate fame Bob Woodward reported that the commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has warned President Obama that more troops are needed.

U.S. President Barack Obama, in his first major military decision as commander-in-chief, has ordered 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan to tackle an intensifying insurgency, the White House said on Tuesday."This increase is necessary to stabilise a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires," Obama said in a statement.

NATO forces in Afghanistan were investigating on Friday whether civilians were among scores of people burned to death when they carried out an air strike against two hijacked fuel tankers.

The US is expected to send about 45,000 extra troops for Afghanistan after Gordon Brown said that 500 more British troops would be sent to the country.

President Obama sent his top diplomat, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton , to Europe on Thursday
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/world/asia/05diplo.html

Britain's prime minister is laying out his future strategy in Afghanistan in a speech scheduled for the House of Commons.

A British Tornado fighter jet crashed at a major NATO base in southern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said, the third aircraft mishap in as many days as foreign forces press their new offensives against the Taliban.