November 24, 2008	Monday	Ziqa'ad 25, 1429

KABUL, Nov 23: US President-elect Barack Obama pledged in a telephone conversation with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to increase aid to Afghanistan and said fighting terrorism in the region would be a top priority, Mr Karzai’s office said on Sunday.

The phone call between Mr Obama and Mr Karzai on Saturday is the first reported contact between the two leaders and comes more than two weeks after the Nov 4 US election.

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

Afghanistan has long pressed the United States to tackle what it calls the bases of terrorism in Pakistan.

In the phone call, Mr Obama pledged to increase US assistance to Afghanistan. An aide to Mr Karzai said the increase would include economic and military assistance.

Mr Obama has chided Mr Karzai and his government in the past, saying it had “not gotten out of the bunker” and helped to organise the country or its political and security institutions.—AP