Obama announces new Afghan strategy

Obama vowed to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" Osama bin Laden's terror group, which he said was plotting deadly new assaults and made Pakistan the epicenter of the new U.S. approach. He said he would plunge 4,000 more U.S. troops into the unfinished war, triple U.S. aid to Pakistan to $7.5 billion over five years, attempt to peel away more moderate Taliban factions and lead a global civilian surge to Afghanistan. The president candidly spelled out expectations of the United States, its allies and Pakistan, raising the stakes in a war that is killing more Americans than Iraq and reaping a rising civilian toll.

"Multiple intelligence estimates have warned that al-Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the U.S. homeland from its safe-haven in Pakistan," U.S. president said.

Flanked by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Obama backed a Senate bill to triple U.S. aid to Pakistan's government to $1.5 billion a year over five years. "Make no mistake, al-Qaeda and its extremist allies are a cancer that risks killing Pakistan from within," he said, hours after a suicide bomb at a mosque in Pakistan killed at least 48 people. But he warned Pakistan must play a more active role in eliminating the terrorists on its soil.

On Afghanistan, there was little of the rhetoric seen in the previous Bush administration that foresaw the country as a democratic bastion. "We will shift the emphasis of our mission to training and increasing the size of Afghan security forces so that they can eventually take the lead in securing their country," he said.

The 4,000 extra U.S. troops - on top of the 17,000 already authorized by the president - will partner Afghan security forces.