A senior White House official says U.S. President Barack Obama is calling on his national security team to revise the options for the U.S. war strategy in Afghanistan .

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's national security team is moving to reframe its war strategy by emphasizing the campaign against Al Qaeda in Pakistan while arguing that the Taliban in Afghanistan do not pose a direct threat to the United States, officials said Wednesday.

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.

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.