Karzai: New U.S. Strategy for Afghanistan 'Better Than Expected'

KABUL  Afghanistan's president offered support Saturday for the new U.S. strategy for the growing conflict in his country, praising increased civil and military aid and highlighting a plan for reconciliation with moderate elements of the Taliban.Afghan President Hamid Karzai has long championed the idea of reconciliation with the Taliban as a key way to tamp down the growing insurgency in Afghanistan. The Bush administration generally opposed the idea, but President Barack Obama stressed reconciliation with more moderate elements of the Taliban when he presented the new U.S. strategy Friday."In a country with extreme poverty that has been at war for decades, there will also be no peace without reconciliation among former enemies," Obama said.The reconciliation proposal is the most novel part of the new plan, which is focused mostly on increasing the scale of ongoing initiatives — promising 4,000 additional troops to train the Afghan army, hundreds more civilian specialists to help Afghanistan rebuild and billions of dollars in civilian aid to neighboring Pakistan.Pakistan's president also welcomed the Obama administration's new policy to counter Al Qaeda as a "positive change" and insisted his country will not allow its territory to be used for terrorist attacks.