Karzai: Obama promises more aid

The United States has some 32,000 American forces in Afghanistan, a number that is to be increased by thousands next year. The current NATO commander, US General David McKiernan, has requested an additional 20,000 troops.

Fighting terrorism and the insurgency "in Afghanistan, the region, and the world is a top priority," Karzai's office quoted Obama as saying during the conversation.

Afghanistan has long pressed the United States to tackle what it calls the bases of terrorism in neighboring Pakistan, and Obama's reported pledge will likely please Karzai, who has accused Pakistan's intelligence service of supporting the Taliban in plotting bombings and other attacks in Afghanistan. Pakistan, a key ally in the US war on terror, flatly denies the allegation.

Obama in the past has expressed frustration with Pakistan's efforts to go after militants in its territory. During the presidential campaign he said that, "If Pakistan cannot or will not act, we will take out high-level terrorist targets like [Osama] bin Laden if we have them in our sights."

Cross-border US missile strikes as well as ground operations by US forces along the border have increased significantly in recent months.

Last week, American troops launched a barrage of artillery at insurgents attacking their position from inside Pakistan's tribal region, and since mid-August, the United States is suspected of launching at least 20 missiles from unmanned drones based in Afghanistan, killing scores of suspected extremists and angering the Pakistani government.

Over the past month, NATO and Pakistani forces have been cooperating in so-called Operation Lion Heart - a series of complementary operations that involve the Pakistani military and Frontier Corps, and NATO on the Afghan side.

The top spokesman for the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, Brigadier General Richard Blanchette, said yesterday that cooperation between Afghan, NATO, and Pakistani troops is "the best it has ever been."

"You finally have those who are really conducting the operations, the soldiers who know exactly where on the other side the operations are happening, so you can have a movement which you could compare to the movement of a hammer and an anvil," Blanchette said.

In the phone call, Obama pledged to increase US assistance to Afghanistan, according to a statement from Karzai's office. An aide to Karzai said the increase would include economic and military assistance.

It was not clear why it took more than two weeks for Obama to speak with Karzai.