WASHINGTON, Feb 10: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday tasked a former CIA officer Bruce Riedel to carry out an inter-agency review of the US policy towards Pakistan and Afghanistan. Special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke and Michele Flournoy, a former US Defence Department official, will co-chair the panel.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that Mr Riedel would look at both military and non-military aspects of the US policy in the South Asian region.

He would report directly to President Obama and his national security adviser Gen (retd) Jim Jones.

President Obama told a news conference on Tuesday night that he had asked his top generals and diplomats to evaluate a regional approach for rooting out terrorism from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mr Gibbs said the president expected the review to be completed before a Nato summit to be held in April.

Mr Riedel is an expert on South Asian affairs who currently works for the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington.