Obama and Karzai hold video conference

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Barack Obama discussed the new US policy for Afghanistan during an hour-long video conference call today, a spokesman for the presidential palace said.

The move came ahead of Mr Obama’s planned speech tonight at the US Military Academy West Point in New York, where he will outline a new US war plan and dispatch between 30,000 and 35,000 more American troops to Afghanistan.