Obama announces Afghan escalation
Spreading the war to Pakistan

Those who cherished hopes that Barack Obama accession to the US presidency would herald a change of direction from the years of Bush, will be sadly disillusioned by the his actions over Afghanistan.

After three years of losing ground against a growing Afghan resistance, the US is continuing the troop build-up begun by George W. Bush.

In February, Obama ordered the Pentagon to double the number of U.S. combat brigades with the addition of 17,000 new troops, a number that could eventually reach 30,000. President Obama has promised an extra 21,000 troops for Afghanistan on top of the 38,000 US troops already there.

The US has intensified air raids into neighbouring Pakistan, with considerable civilian deaths and injuries.

Opposition to the US-Nato occupation is increasing, much of it as a result of the increase in civilian casualties as the war has intensified.

Kabul-based political analyst Waheed Muzjda recently told the Christian Science Monitor that "at least half the country is deeply suspicious of the new troops. The U.S. will have to wage an intense hearts-and-minds campaign to turn this situation around."

Last Friday Barack Obama announced his new strategic plan for Afghanistan. Sugar coating the military escalation is talk of a major diplomatic effort, civilian officers, aid for Pakistan and more training of local forces.

And in echoes from both the Vietnam war and Iraq, there is talk of detaching the civilian population from guerrillas and conciliating "moderate" elements of the Taliban.

But the key element is the military escalation and further spreading the war to Pakistan, with, as key US ally Gordon Brown indicated at the weekend, US and Nato troops fighting in that country.

With promises of aid of $1.5 billion (€1.1 billion) in aid to Pakistan each year for the next five years—although it still requires Congressional approval—dependent on the Pakistan government confronting the "militants" the US has managed to gain the acquiescence of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.

But Pakistan public opinion is opposed and elements in its army and intelligence agency are known to sympathise with the Taliban.

Even Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit warned recently that Islamabad regarded "drone attacks on our territory as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and definitely counter-productive".

Obama is now touring around the G20 trying to sell his AfPak strategy to his Nato allies, who remain reluctant to commit large numbers of troops to a doomed war.