WASHINGTON — Afghanistan's former Taliban leader is pursuing a determined effort to reclaim power, U.S. officials said Thursday, a bid they plan to thwart by isolating the most militant insurgents, intensifying training of police and military, and reaching out to people at all levels of Afghan society.
The Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, was driven from power by the U.S. invasion in 2001 that also dislodged Al Qaeda from Afghanistan. But he has reassembled much of his base in Pakistan, where he leads a council of Islamic hard-liners accused of directing insurgent attacks across the border in Afghanistan.
Senior Obama administration officials said in meetings with lawmakers and reporters that a new strategy for Afghanistan, which will be announced by President Obama today after an exhaustive review, would include an additional complement of 4,000 troops from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division to train Afghan police and soldiers. That deployment will be in addition to the extra 17,000 combat troops Obama has ordered to Afghanistan this spring and summer.
Washington will also broaden diplomatic contacts with Afghan officials at all levels and refocus U.S. efforts on combating extremism in Pakistan, officials said.
The added troops are expected to boost the U.S. force in Afghanistan to nearly 60,000 and, along with NATO units, will be part of an allied presence reaching about 90,000 troops later this year.
Further, the State Department will send hundreds of civilian officials to the region in hopes of heightening diplomatic contacts among U.S., Afghan and Pakistani officials. Special U.S. representative Richard Holbrooke will host a meeting with leaders from Afghanistan every six to eight weeks, the senior administration officials said at a briefing.
In Pakistan, the senior officials said, the administration will back the civilian government and support a congressional proposal to triple non-military aid to $1.5 billion a year for the next five years. Obama also will consider stepped-up military assistance, particularly for equipment such as helicopters to help in counter-insurgency missions.
Along the Afghanistan- Pakistan border, the administration is backing creation of "reconstruction zones" to funnel aid to tribal areas, where Al Qaeda militants are presumed to be taking refuge.
