"Obama will appeal to EU heads of states to get more troops for Afghanistan"

Washington, Aug 31 : If Democratic presidential candidate Barak Obama wins the November poll, he will approach the heads of EU leaders to win support for British and American forces fighting the Taliban, revealed his campaign spokesman Senator Jack Reed.

Reed, who accompanied Obama on his recent trip to Europe and the Middle East, said that Obama's appeal for more troops will target the governments in Germany and other EU countries which have been reluctant to commit combat forces in the required numbers during the present day Bush regime.

According to Reed, Obama believes that the goodwill he had accumulated in Europe could be used during the first months of his presidency to recast the war on terrorism, focusing on al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan, rather than the war in Iraq, reported The Telegraph.

Obama's trip was widely criticised in the US, where some voters thought it odd that he spent more than a week courting leaders and publics overseas, rather than panning for votes at home. But, his allies believe that the goodwill generated, particularly in Berlin, where Obama made a speech in front of 200,000 people, is a commodity he can use as president.

Giving his own account about Obama's Europe trip, Reed said the trip has given the presidential candidate "the ability to reach out not just to government leaders but to the people of our allies."

"He will be able to communicate more effectively with the leaders of our allies and the people, that this is their fight too. I think that level of communication hasn't been forthcoming from President Bush's administration. They have been preoccupied with Iraq, which is not a conflict that has a lot of popular support.

I believe that one of the things he will bring to the challenge of bringing more resources to Afghanistan is clarity of where the serious issue is. It is along that Afghani-Pakistan border. This will be a priority with president Obama," the paper quoted Reed as saying.

Praising British troops' contribution in war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, Reed said: "The British have done extraordinarily well both in Afghanistan and Iraq. I have seen them in field. I was very impressed by their professionalism. As a much smaller force, they're under even greater pressure than the US military."

ANI