4 Apr 2009

Nato allies boost Afghanistan force

Barack Obama, the US president, has praised Nato allies for agreeing to send 5,000 extra military personnel to Afghanistan following his call for a greater role for the alliance in the war.

Speaking at the Nato summit in the French city of Strasbourg on Saturday, the US president said the alliance's members had given "strong and unanimous" support to his "new strategy" for Afghanistan.

He said the allies had pledged to boost forces in Afghanistan in order to secure the Afghan presidential elections in August, as well as to further train and fund Afghan forces.

Al Jazeera