US to begin closed meetings on new Afghanistan strategy
Updated
President Barack Obama's national security team begins a series of closed-door meetings today to reassess Washington's strategy on Afghanistan, ahead of deciding whether to dramatically increase its troop commitment there. Whatever the meetings produce, it'll have the ready support of the Afghan government.
However the meetings will need to take on board the first comments made in the US by NATO's new chief, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, since he took office last month. In a speech to the Atlantic Council, he's warned Washington not to criticise NATO if it wants more troops from the bloc's member states to be sent to Afghanistan. Mr Rasmussen didn't say whether he believes more troops can win the victory President Obama's earnestly seeking. But he did remind his US hosts that soldiers from more than 20 countries have died in the eight-year Afghan conflict.
Those countries include Australia, and Afghanistan was high on the agenda at talks between Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, and the US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and President Obama's National Security Adviser, General Jim Jones.
Mr Smith says Washington hasn't asked for more Australian troops, and says he didn't get any indication the US government fears the war is being lost.
Presenter: Fran Kelly
Speaker: Stephen Smith, Australian Foreign Minister
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