Top Obama aide to visit Pakistan

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obamas top security adviser James Jones will visit Afghanistan
and Pakistan to monitor implementation of the new US war plan, a US official said Monday. Jones, who will also
visit India, will meet local officials, US diplomats, military personnel and representatives of foreign nations
battling alongside US troops in Afghan war coalition.
At the request of the President, National Security Advisor Jim Jones is travelling to Afghanistan and Pakistan to
follow-up on the implementation of our new, comprehensive strategy, said National Security Council spokesman
Mike Hammer. Obama put Pakistan at the centre of the US fight against Al-Qaeda when he unveiled a new war
strategy in March to commit thousands more troops and billions of dollars to Afghan war.
Exact dates of the visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan were not released for security reasons. Sources in India,
however, had disclosed over the weekend that Jones would be in New Delhi on June 25. General Jones will
also visit India at the invitation of his counterpart National Security Advisor M K Narayanan, said Hammer.
General Jones visit to New Delhi is part of our ongoing effort to further deepen and strengthen our key bilateral
partnership with India. Jones trip was made public as the New York Times reported Monday that the US military
commander in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal, said he would sharply restrict the use of airstrikes in an
effort to reduce civilian deaths. The newspaper said McChrystal noted in interviews over the past few days that
the use of airstrikes in Afghanistan would mostly be allowed only to prevent US and other coalition troops from
being overrun.