Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., top, listens as Defense Secretary Robert Gates testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday,Dec. 2, 2009, before the committee's hearing on U.S. strategy on Afghanistan.
Despite misgivings, members of Congress seem poised to back President Barack Obama's plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan after getting assurances the commitment isn't open-ended.
The surge-and-exit strategy that Obama announced Tuesday night marks the largest expansion of the war since it began eight years ago. Critics conceded that Obama will have little trouble early next year getting Congress to provide an added $30 billion or $40 billion to carry it out.
The president's chief military and diplomatic advisers faced more questioning from lawmakers Thursday after encountering only tepid criticism Wednesday from members of the Senate Armed Services and House Foreign Affairs committees.
Anti-war Democrats, who rose to power because of voter opposition to Bush's strategy in Iraq, said they are skeptical that the troop buildup is necessary or will work. But at the same time, party leaders — who were among Obama's biggest supporters in his campaign for president — said it was unlikely that they would try to block the deployments or the money he wants.
Critical to winning Democratic support was a July 2011 deadline that Obama set to begin troop withdrawals.
Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said setting the date will "produce the sense of urgency in the Afghan government that has been lacking up to now."
Republicans won assurances from Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the 2011 withdrawal date was flexible. They otherwise supported the troop buildup because it fulfills a request by U.S. commanders in Afghanistan for more soldiers and Marines.
"Once we achieve our objectives — an Afghanistan that can defend itself, govern itself, control its borders and remain an ally in the war on terror — then we can reasonably discuss withdrawal, a withdrawal based on conditions, not timelines," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, told Gates, "You've struck exactly the right balance."
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday, "In July 2011, we'll start to transition security responsibilities to Afghan forces."
But there has been "no determination of how long that will take," Mullen said on CBS' "Early Show."
Gates said Wednesday the president was committed to begin pulling at least some troops out by the target date. But the president will have the authority to change gears after the Defense Department conducts a formal assessment in December 2010.
"We're not just going to throw these guys in the swimming pool and walk away," Gates said of the Afghan security force.
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of a military spending panel, told reporters he anticipates the Pentagon asking for $40 billion for the war early next year and Congress approving it.
"It's not likely that there would be any circumstances where the president would lose this battle," he said.
Constant companion: Omer has been a support to the Jackson children and accompanied them on many outings
Prince (left) and Paris leave their class in Encino, California
Karate kid: Blanket Jackson practises his moves as he leaves his martial arts lesson in California yesterday
Quiet: Eldest sibling Prince is said to avoid talking about his late father but his aunt La Toya claims he suffers from vitiligo too
Wannabe startin' somethin? Blanket grabs his rumoured brother Omer Bhatti around the neck and leads him out of the karate centre
Dressed in their martial arts gear, it is clear that Michael Jackson's children are thoroughly enjoying their classes.
Prince Michael II, nicknamed Blanket, left his lesson yesterday with his brother and sister but was so pumped up that he continued to practise his moves on the way to the car.
The seven-year-old was grinning widely as he left the karate centre in Encino, California and laughed with 'secret son' Omer Bhatti. Jackson's rumoured love child has been a constant companion to Prince, 12, Paris, 11 and Blanket since their father died.
Yesterday Blanket grabbed the tie around the 25-year-old's neck and danced out of the karate centre with Omer following him and smiling.
Paris and Prince were also at their class. Even though the centre caters exclusively for children and teens under 16, it seems Omer is allowed to join in.
The karate kids centre aims to 'inspire self esteem in every child' through martial arts and to teach the youngsters learning leadership skills and martial arts technique.
The children have been living with Jackson's mother Katherine at the family compound in Encino, California since their father's death in June.
Their aunt, La Toya Jackson, recently spoke of how the children are, finding it tough to cope with the loss of their father.
The 53-year-old said Prince Michael Jackson, the oldest of the children, is having the hardest time accepting the loss. 'Prince just doesn't want to speak about it,' she said. 'I do worry about him very much.''
She claims that he, too, suffers from vitiligo, the skin disease which Jackson had.
Blanket, seven, is also suffering from the separation.
'He is just a very sad, shy little boy,' she said. 'He cries - he really does cry. It's so painful for him. No one can bring his Daddy back and it hurts too much.'
But Paris is coping a little better and has posters of her father covering her walls.
'She's doing very well,' La Toya said. 'She thinks and talks about her father all the time.
Tiger and fierce wife Elin,rumour she called the mistress and used the golf club against hubby.
Tiger Woods really love whores, well until his wife beat him with a golf club and dared him to talk to the police. Now he is a miraculously changed man but the whores keep on coming out of the woodwork. When you are one of the most famous celebrities in the world, carrying on multiple affairs with attention whores (or "fame-hungry women" as Michelle Malkin puts it) is a bad idea. Sending these "fame-hungry women" text messages from your cellphone with your name on it is an amazing bad idea. Prepaid, prepaid phones Tiger and never leave a voice message! NEVER!!!
Jaimie Grubbs has released a voicemail she claims has the voice of Tiger Woods on it. Meanwhile, 27-year-old Kalika Moquin has surfaced as the third woman other than 34-year-old Rachel Uchitel that Tiger Woods allegedly had an affair with,placing his statement of "transgressions" (plural) in his apology into a whole new light and makes me wonder about his wife Elin Nordegren and all those golf clubs in the world's number one golfers's home. Us Weekly obtained a voicemail from Tiger to one of his mistresses, 24-year-old cocktail waitress and VH1 Tool Academy alumni Jaimee Grubbs, and he was not giving her tips on her short game. The last messages she received on November 24 from Tiger:
"Hey, it's Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favor. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and may be calling you. So if you can, please take your name off that. Just have it as a number on the voicemail. You got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. Bye."
So the 24-year-old, desperate-for-fame, cocktail waitress saved the damming voicemails she received from the billionaire golfer with the squeaky-clean image, and then sold those voicemails to a tabloid for ungodly sum of money? Didn't see that one coming . . .
Tiger's Steamy Sexting Messages
More shocking news about fame-whore Jaimee Grubbs: She kept all the sex text messages Tiger sent her, too. Via Radar:
"I will wear you out...when was the last time you got (bleeped)?" one message read. Another one from Tiger read, "Send me something very naughty…Go to the bathroom and take (a picture)."
These text messages are either "bad" or "really really bad" for Tiger's image. Bad if the (bleeped) part of the text message is "fucked." Really really bad if it's "tied up like a naughty schoolgirl and treated like the whore that you are." But what really scar me is the thing about "Send me something very naughty…Go to the bathroom and take (a picture)." It could be an edited and very censored version of "Go to the bathroom and take a scat picture)." If the missing word is "scat" or anything relating to shit or piss then it is Chornobyl disaster bad.
Tiger Loves Pussy, The Third Mistress
Life & Style claims that Tiger has a third mistress, Kalika Moquin, that he hooked up with as recently as October:
Kalika Moquin, a marketing manager for The Bank nightclub in Las Vegas, hooked up with Tiger more than once at his Las Vegas hotel during the weekend of Oct. 23, an insider tells Life & Style.
"They've hooked up a bunch of times. Tiger told Kalika that married life isn't all it's built up to be. He said he wasn't happy in his marriage or his home life and that there was just so much pressure on him."
You know what's even cooler than having a girlfriend in every city of the world? You getting to keep your 155-foot $20 million yacht instead of your wife getting it in the divorce.
Tiger's Crazy Wife
In case there was any doubt Elin Nordegren-Woods doesn't fuck around, she apparently called one of Tiger's alleged mistresses Jaimee Grubbs the day of Tiger's car accident, according to TMZ:
The day of Tiger's crash -- Jaimee went to work, played the voicemail to co-workers and then later in the evening said she had received a call from a blocked number. Jaimee says she answered and asked who was on the line. Jaimee says the caller -- a woman -- did not identify herself but said, "You know who this is because you're f**king my husband."
Wow, "Jaimee went to work, played the voicemail to co-workers." Stay classy, total skank. If this whole debacle doesn't end with Tiger Woods getting sodomized with a golf club before Elin files for divorce and$100 billion in monthly child support, I will be shocked.
The three mistresses:
Rachel Uchitel
The 34-year-old New York nightclub promoter has denied that she was Tiger Woods's mistress and is sympathising with his wife. But she appears to be making the most of her newfound fame.
She didn't waste time flying to Los Angeles to meet up with celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred after the National Enquirer U.S. tabloid named her as the golfer's alleged mistress a week ago.
Ms Uchitel also dined with the lawyer this week at Spago in Beverly Hills, a high profile restaurant known for its star clientele.
According to the Enquirer, Woods had secret trysts with her in New York, Las Vegas and Australia and allegedly shared phone calls and racy text messages.
'It's horrible to Tiger's family. His wife must feel horrible. The worst part of it, it's not true,' she said. She denied meeting Woods in Australia last month, where he was playing in a tournament.
But website RadarOnline claimed Woods booked and paid for the trip.
Jaimee Grubbs
The 24-year-old cocktail waitress claims she had a 31-month affair with Woods after meeting him at a Las Vegas club on April 27 when she was 21.
Before her name surfaced on Tuesday, she was known to American TV viewers for her role in the tacky cable reality show Tool Academy, in which boorish boyfriends are sent to a relationship boot camp to learn how to treat women better.
She told told celebrity magazine U.S. Weekly that they were even supposed to meet in February in the same week that Woods wife gave birth to their second son, but she claimed he told her 'he couldn't make it because of a family issue'.
The magazine also put an answerphone message on its website in which Woods allegedly tells Miss Grubbs he feared his wife Elin was suspicious and could be calling her.
By last night, the message was being replayed on TV stations around the world. The man purported to be Woods asks Miss Grubbs to take her name off her answerphone message so that if Elin tries the number she will not know whose it is.
Woods is alleged to have said: 'Hey, it's Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favour. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and may be calling you. 'So, if you can, please take your name off that. Just have it as a number on the voicemail. You got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. Right. Bye.'
Kalika Moquin
Miss Moquin, 27, was coy yesterday over her alleged relationship with the golf star.
The marketing manager for The Bank nightclub in Las Vegas told Life &; Style magazine in the U.S. that 'it's not appropriate for me to comment one way or the other. At this time, I'm just choosing to focus on my job'.
But the magazine reported that Miss Moquin met up more than once with Woods at his Las Vegas hotel during the weekend of October 23.
The golfer, who wed former Swedish model Elin Nordegren in 2004, allegedly complained to Miss Moquin about his marriage and his home life and about the immense pressure he was under.
The New York Post also quoted a source as saying the couple were a hot item 'for some time.'
I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behaviour my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behaviour and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone.
Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete, I have been dismayed to realise the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means.
For the last week, my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives. The stories in particular that physical violence played any role in the car accident were utterly false and malicious. Elin [pictured below with Woods] has always done more to support our family and shown more grace than anyone could possibly expect.
But no matter how intense curiosity about public figures can be, there is an important and deep principle at stake which is the right to some simple, human measure of privacy. I realise there are some who don't share my view on that.
But for me, the virtue of privacy is one that must be protected in matters that are intimate and within one's own family. Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions.
Whatever regrets I have about letting my family down have been shared with and felt by us alone. I have given this a lot of reflection and thought and I believe that there is a point at which I must stick to that principle even though it's difficult.
I will strive to be a better person and the husband and father that my family deserves. For all of those who have supported me over the years, I offer my profound apology.
Crash: Woods' luxury home in Orlando (L) where he smashed into a fire hydrant and tree
Public apology: Tiger Woods, pictured with his wife Elin, today admitted letting down his family
A police diagram plotting Woods' car crash last Friday
Destruction: The back window mysteriously smashed and the front where Woods hit a fire hydrant and tree
The back seat of Woods' car showing a book on physics and a bottle of water
Damage: New pictures released by the Florida Highway Patrol show Woods' Cadillac after he crashed it
The furious wife of Tiger Woods ranted at his mistress over the phone after discovering he was cheating on her, it has been claimed.
Swedish model Elin reportedly rang cocktail waitress Jaimee Grubbs from a blocked number on the day he crashed his car into a fire hydrant and then a tree outside their luxury family home in Florida.
When asked who she was, Elin, 29, told Miss Grubbs: 'You know who this is because you're ******* my husband', according to influential U.S. website TMZ.
An answerphone message from two days earlier, which was posted on the internet yesterday, allegedly showed Woods trying to warn Miss Grubbs his wife was suspicious that they were having an affair, had been through his phone and could call anytime.
On the message, Woods allegedly said: 'Hey, it's Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favour. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and may be calling you.
'So if you can, please take you name off that. Just have it as a number on the voicemail. You got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. Bye.'
The latest revelations came as one of the three women linked to Woods, nightclub promoter Rachel Uchitel, was preparing to speak out about their 'relationship'.
The 34-year-old has hired celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred who will make a statement in Los Angeles on her behalf about her 'relationship' with Woods. Miss Uchitel denied an affair earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik, who introduced Woods to Elin when she worked for him as a nanny, has said he thought better of the sportsman.
Other players have refused to condemn the champion but Parnevik broke ranks to speak of his anger and express his sympathy for his wife.
'I would be especially sad about it - I really feel sorry for Elin - since me and my wife were at fault for hooking her up with him. We probably thought he was a better guy than he is,' he said.
'I would probably need to apologise to her. It's a private thing of course but when you are the guy he is, the world's best athlete, you should think more before you do stuff.' The emergence of the voicemail apparently left by Woods for Miss Grubbs yesterday appeared to prompt the shamed golfer into an extraordinary public apology for his 'transgressions'.
He confessed: 'I have let my family down.' The admission followed another blow to his squeaky-clean image when a Las Vegas nightclub beauty became the third woman to be linked to him.
'I have not been true to my values and the behaviour my family deserves,' said the 33-year-old star, who is married with two young children. Enlarge tiger promotional
While admitting 'personal sins' but not admitting to any specific infidelities, he added: 'I regret those transgressions with all of my heart.
'I will strive to be a better person and the husband and father that my family deserves.' The dramatic and public mea culpa was issued in a statement on his website while the three-times Open champion remained behind the walls of his mansion near Orlando, Florida.
But he couldn't hide from the publicity nightmare that has spun out of control following a relatively minor car accident outside the property in the early hours of last Friday.
Last night, police photos of his battered Cadillac Escalade added to the mystery over the crash. Woods emphatically denied suggestions he crashed the £35,000 vehicle into a water hydrant and a tree after being attacked by Elin in a row over his alleged cheating.
Celebrity website TMZ claimed the 29-year-old Swede scratched her husband's face and chased after him with one of his golf clubs, smashing two side windows of the Cadillac.
But Woods insisted such allegations were 'utterly false and malicious'.
He added that he was 'far short of perfect' and was dealing with his 'personal failings behind closed doors'.
Woods's wealth - he is sport's first billionaire star - has been built on lucrative endorsements based on his unsullied reputation.
But, in the space of a week, he has found himself at the centre of a whirlwind scandal with one woman after another being named as one of his alleged mistresses.
The latest was 27-year-old brunette Kalika Moquin, a marketing manager at The Bank nightclub in Las Vegas.
Life & Style magazine in the U.S. quoted an insider as saying: 'They've hooked up a bunch of times. Tiger told Kalika he wasn't happy in his marriage or his home life and that there was so much pressure on him.'
Miss Moquin refused to comment.
Miss Uchitel, 34, and Los Angeles cocktail waitress Miss Grubbs, 24, have also been named in reports as women who have allegedly had flings with Woods.
Other reports suggest further dalliances, including one occasion when he is said to have gone to a hotel suite with two women - a blonde and a brunette - on his arm.
He was also accused of regularly hitting on girls closer to home in an Orlando bar.
Woods refused to speak to police investigating the crash, for which he was given a traffic ticket for careless driving on Tuesday.
But he decided to respond yesterday after a series of racy texts, an email and the answerphone message surfaced concerning the other women.
Celebrity magazine Us Weekly quoted from an October 18 text message supposedly sent to Miss Grubbs in which he allegedly wrote: 'Send me something very naughty (go to the bathroom and take a picture).'
Miss Grubbs is reported as saying: 'He told me just last month "Quietly and secretly we will always be together".'
She added that they had sex about 20 times.
The waitress claimed a panicky Woods called and left a message on her phone on November 24 saying he thought his wife of five years might be on to them.
Two days after the alleged message was left, Woods injured himself in the car accident that led to speculation he was trying to flee a bustup over his alleged affairs.
Miss Uchitel denies being involved with Woods. But the New York Post quoted from an email purportedly sent by the golfer to the club hostess, who has also reportedly dated actor David Boreanaz and New York Yankees baseball star Derek Jeter.
In the email, Woods allegedly said he could not sleep after having 'a disturbing dream' that he found her having sex with the two ex-boyfriends. Police photos of Tiger Woods's crashed car raised new questions about his mysterious accident, which was more dramatic than at first thought.
According to police, he drove over bushes and into hedges before slamming into a water hydrant and then careening into a neighbour's oak tree.
The photos also confirmed that the rear windows had been smashed on both sides.
Woods's wife, Elin, told police she broke a window with a golf club to help pull her husband out of the car. Sceptics questioned why the windows were broken on both sides.
Damage to the Cadillac Escalade totalled more than £5,000 and police say it will cost another £2,000 to fix the hydrant. -------------------
A U.S. Army cadet reads a book entitled 'Kill Bin Laden' as he waits with other cadets for U.S. President Barack Obama to deliver his address
Another U.S. Army cadet reads an apporpriately titled book before the speech this morning. IN the book, author Dave Grossman investigates the psychology of killing in combat
President Obama speaks in Eisenhower Hall at the United States Military Academy last night
Anti-war demonstrators stand in front of Thayer Gate at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point last night
Ranks of soldiers at West Point bow their heads in silence before they listen to President Obama
Meeting the man: Cadets line up to shake hands with their president following his speech
Barack Obama is photographed with cadets after he spoke in Eisenhower Hall at the United States Military Academy this morning
Line up: Secretary of Defence, Robert Gates (second right) joins Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Administration Mike Mullen, and General David Petraeus
U.S. soldiers patrol through the heart of Kabul, Afghanistan, this morning. Many Afghans were still sleeping when President Barack Obama announced he was sending 30,000 more U.S. troops to the war
Sergeant Joseph Delair of Syracuse, New York, fingerprints and photographs men from a nearby village at the Sahowza District Centre this morning. The men are registered and checked in the system to make sure they are not wanted as an enemy combatant
Commons dispute: Gordon Brown and David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions. The Tory leader accused the Mr Brown giving 'false expectations' to British troops over the start of a pull-out from Afghanistan
Gordon Brown was today accused of allowing the public to be misled about when British troops would start withdrawing from Afganistan.
As Barack Obama unveiled plans to send an extra 30,000 U.S. soldiers to the country, the Prime Minister clashed with David Cameron over Britain's military strategy.
Mr Cameron told MPs the Prime Minister at the weekend had said he was looking at transferring at least five Afghan provinces to Afghan control by the end of 2010, including parts of Helmand.
'This was widely interpreted as a commitment to start the withdrawal of British troops in 2010. It's important we don't give false expectations to British troops or mixed messages to anybody else.
'Can you clarify whether you would expect British troop numbers to start reducing in 2010 or 2011.'
The question came after Barack Obama unveiled an ambitious strategy to begin withdrawals from the war-torn country in 2011.
Mr Brown said he had made it absolutely clear that 'there was no question of us withdrawing our troops until the point that we were sure that the Afghans could take over security control themselves'.
He told Mr Cameron: 'Even if one or two parts of a district or a province are transferred in 2010, we will continue to have our troops in Afghanistan at that point.
'By 2011 there will be over 300,000 troops - Afghan, American, British and coalition troops - and that is the point at which the balance between Afghan forces and British, American and coalition troops, will start to change.'
Last night, in a highly-anticipated address, the U.S. leader pledged to bring the conflict to a 'successful conclusion' by introducing the surge as quickly as possible.
But while increasing the total American presence in the region to almost 100,000 by next summer, Mr Obama warned that the commitment would not be open-ended.
He set out plans for Afghan security forces to be trained to a sufficient level to enable the US to start pulling troops out as early as July 2011.
The president also appealed to the America's allies to step up their own commitments in the region, insisting: 'This is not just America's war.'
His strategy was endorsed by Mr Brown, who was briefed by his U.S. counterpart in advance of the speech.
The Prime Minister, who announced this week that the UK's military commitment would be increased to more than 10,000 troops, said: 'I call on all our allies to unite behind President Obama's strategy.
'Britain will continue to play its full part in persuading other countries to offer troops to the Afghanistan campaign.'
The Prime Minister said that the London conference on Afghanistan that he has called for January 28 would be a 'vital next stage'.
'It will offer an opportunity to agree a process to transfer provinces and districts to Afghan control; to make decisions on new civilian co-ordination in Afghanistan; and to support commitments by President Karzai on Afghan reforms to build up the Afghan army and police, and local governance; and to secure further support from international partners,' he said.
Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup said he was 'delighted' with Mr Obama's announcement.
'It's what all of us who have been involved in the operation in Afghanistan have assessed is required if we are to resource a plan to deliver the strategy which we have been holding to for some time now,' he said.
He said the US was providing three-quarters of the 40,000 troops Gen McChrystal said were necessary. Britain had provided 1,200 more from the point at which the US general made his assessment.
'They didn't ask for more and we didn't say 'no',' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Sir Jock dismissed suggestions that British troops were set to take a reserve role behind American forces in Helmand.
'I do expect the command structure in the south to change for the simple reason that that's where the main fight is and, therefore, that's where Nato is concentrating its effort, quite rightly,' he said.
'But that means that the span of command within the regional command south area is now going to become too large and I think Gen McChrystal is going to have to divide it in some way to retain a sensible span of command.'
But he added: 'I expect the the British contribution to remain centred in Helmand for some time to come at the very least.'
This morning's announcement came more than three months after the White House received a report from the US's top commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal recommending about 40,000 extra soldiers were needed.
Mr Obama, in a speech to a military academy in West Point, New York state, indicated he had opted to go with fewer, but will deploy troops in a quicker time-frame that previously thought.
The accelerated schedule will see some additional troops in in place by Christmas, it has been suggested, with the rest deployed by next summer.
The new strategy consists of three core elements: a renewed military effort; a civilian surge to reinforce positive action, and an effective partnership with Pakistan, Mr Obama said.
He acknowledged the difficulty allied forces face in reversing the fortunes in the flagging conflict.
'Afghanistan is not lost, but for several years it has moved backwards,' he said, adding that the Taliban had gained momentum while the Afghanistan-Pakistan border remained a safe-haven for al Qaida.
That was why it was in America's 'vital national interest' to send additional troops to Afghanistan, the president added.
'These are the resources that we need to seize the initiative, while building the Afghan capacity that can allow for a responsible transition of our forces out of Afghanistan.'
This withdrawal will commence within 18 months, he pledged.
Mr Obama added that the US's military aim in the region remained the same: 'To disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda.'
To achieve this, the US will swell troop numbers in the region while also training an Afghan national army and police force, he added.
He said: 'The 30,000 additional troops that I am announcing tonight will deploy in the first part of 2010 - the fastest pace possible - so they can target the insurgency and secure key population centres.
They will increase our ability to train competent Afghan Security Forces and to partner with them so that more Afghans can get into the fight.
'And they will help create the conditions for the United States to transfer responsibility to the Afghans.'
He also pushed other members of the coalition to up their presence in a bid to end the conflict, uphold Nato's credibility and bring security to the wider international community.
The president said: 'Some have already provided additional troops, and we are confident that there will be further contributions in the days and weeks ahead. Our friends have fought and bled and died alongside us in Afghanistan. Now, we must come together to end this war successfully.
'For what's at stake is not simply a test of Nato's credibility - what's at stake is the security of our allies, and the common security of the world.'
Gen McChrystal, commander of Nato's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, said: 'The Afghanistan-Pakistan review led by the president has provided me with a clear military mission and the resources to accomplish our task.
'The clarity, commitment and resolve outlined in the president's address are critical steps toward bringing security to Afghanistan and eliminating terrorist safe havens that threaten regional and global security.'
Former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said: 'Barack Obama has staked his presidency on the roll of the military dice.
'This is his war now and his presidency will be defined by the outcome.
'Success will depend on the capacity of the (Afghan President Hamid) Karzai government to fulfil its obligations.
'Obama will be dependent on Karzai stepping up to the plate.'
There has been criticism of the time Mr Obama has taken to reach the decision he announced today.
But Louis Susman, the U.S. ambassador to London, said the president would make a decision of this importance unless his 'heart, his head and his gut' were in it.
'I think the three months was necessary to make a proper analysis of the right strategy to go in and end this war,' he said.
'The issue was never whether we make 1,000 troops or 30,000 troops - it doesn't make any difference if you don't have the right strategy.
'And I think he felt after 10 meetings and fully discussing this with all constituencies of our government that this was the right decision.'
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that many US senators had 'concerns' but predicted that Congress would be 'substantially united' behind the plans.
Iraqi journalist Muntadher al-Zaidi takes cover as his news conference is disrupted by a copycat shoe thrower
Muntadhar al-Zeidi's famous moment as he throws a shoe at President Bush during a news conference with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad last year
He became a hero across the Arab world when he angrily hurled a shoe at George Bush in Baghdad.
But Muntadhar al-Zaidi obviously upset someone.
The Iraqi journalist got a taste of his own medicine yesterday as he was was nearly hit by another shoe thrower at a news conference in Paris.
Al-Zaidi was able to duck and the shoe hit the wall behind him.
The identity of the new shoe-thrower - and his motivation - were not immediately clear, but he appeared to be an Iraqi.
'He stole my technique,' Al-Zaidi later joked.
It was not known if the intruder was a journalist or just pretended to be one to attend the news conference at a centre for foreign reporters.
Whatever his motive, the confrontation didn't stop there.
Al-Zaidi's brother, Maithan, then chased the attacker in the audience and pelted him with a shoe as he left the room.
Muntadhar al-Zaidi, a TV reporter, became a hero to many opponents of the Iraq war when he hurled his shoes at Bush during a news conference in Baghdad in December 2008.
The President was forced to duck for cover as the journalist shouted in Arabic:
‘This is your farewell kiss, you dog!
This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.’
Al-Zeidi was quickly wrestled to the ground by security guards, then imprisoned for nine months before being released in September.
Al-Zaidi said that he had videotaped himself practicing the insult two years ago and had hoped to accost Bush in Jordan but this did not take place.
'What made me do it was the humiliation Iraq has been subjected to due to the U.S. occupation and the murder of innocent people,' al-Zaidi said.
Venezuela's anti-American President Hugo Chavez called him courageous; a Libyan group headed by Muammar Gaddafi's daughter gave him an award; and fathers from other Arab nations have offered Muntazer their daughters as brides.
The Paris news conference was held so he could talk about his experiences.
