The US administration yesterday unveiled its new thinking on Afghanistan as Richard Holbrooke, President Obama's troubleshooter for the war, outlined the White House policy review to Nato allies and senior European Union officials in Brussels.

Shortly after Obama conceded a sense of "drift" in the faltering US campaign against a resurgent Taliban, and for the first time said the US needed an exit strategy, Holbrooke emphasised the non-military aspects of the campaign.
The administration is to disclose its policy review on Afghanistan publicly next week at a special international conference called by the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, in The Hague.

Holbrooke yesterday canvassed European reaction to the new policy and, according to Nato sources, indicated that the policy shift still needed fine tuning.

He stressed the need for a regional approach, including Pakistan, and the stepping up of civilian and military efforts, a Nato spokesman said.
"I found a very encouraging symmetry of views between our Nato allies and other troop-contributing countries, and the United States," Holbrooke said after the meeting in Brussels.

He denied a report in the Guardian yesterday that there were plans to install a high-profile figure in the Afghan government in a challenge to the president, Hamid Karzai. "It doesn't reflect any views that I am aware of in the government I work for and it's certainly not a universal Nato plan or anything," he said.

President Karzai's spokesman, Humayun Hamidzada, said: "This idea goes against everything in the constitution of Afghanistan, which makes no provision for someone with that sort of role. If there is a decision to be made on the form of government, it will be taken by the Afghan people, not by a foreign country."

However, diplomatic sources have told the Guardian that a revised role for Karzai has emerged from the White House review of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is to be unveiled at the Hague conference.

In an interview with CBS television on Sunday, Obama said the US was looking for a comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan. "What we can't do is think that just a military approach in Afghanistan is going to be able to solve our problems.

"What we're looking for is a comprehensive strategy. And there's got to be an exit strategy ... There's got to be a sense that this is not perpetual drift."
While pursuing a medium-term aim of withdrawing from Afghanistan, the US will direct its short-term energies to a troop "surge", sending 17,000 more US soldiers to try to thwart an expected Taliban offensive this spring and summer.

Holbrooke stressed to Nato allies the need to beef up the Afghan police and army, and more effectively tackle the opium and heroin trade in Afghanistan.
According to senior diplomats and Nato officials, a hallmark of the Obama approach is to be more realistic, scaling back the ambitions of the Bush administration to turn the country into a functioning democracy and concentrating on security and counter-terrorism.

"Making sure that al-Qaida cannot attack the US homeland and US interests and our allies. That's our number one priority," Obama told CBS.
The US is also keen to see the Europeans contribute more troops. But they have reduced their demands because of negative reactions in Europe. "It's just not going to happen ... despite what people say publicly," said a European Nato official.