US vows no change in war strategy

The US military remains fully committed to its war strategy in Afghanistan and alliance with the Kabul government despite a week of deadly unrest over the burning of the Holy Quran at an American base, the Pentagon said Monday. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta and top US military officer General Martin Dempsey both "believe that the fundamentals of our strategy remain sound," spokesman George Little told reporters.
The United States has no plans to alter its planned troop drawdown and has an "unwavering" commitment to hand over to Afghan security forces by the end of 2014 as agreed by the Nato alliance, Little said. Attacks on US and coalition troops and seven days of protests had not jeopardised ties between US and Afghan forces, he said. "Our relationship with our Afghan partners remains strong." Another military spokesman, Captain John Kirby, acknowledged tensions had flared over the burning of the Islamic holy book at the Bagram airbase and after two US officers were killed inside the interior ministry.
But he said the scale of protests had begun to decline and that US troops were still operating alongside Afghan forces. "These events - they're troubling, they're worrisome, they've got everybody's attention. And yes, tension is high here in Kabul right now," Kirby said by video link from the Afghan capital. "But across the country writ large the mission continues and we're seeing the protest activity decline."
The United States has repeatedly apologised for the Holy Quran burning at an incinerator and insisted it was a mistake and not intentional. The incident has set off seven successive days of protest and violence, with the death toll estimated at about 40.
The United Nations announced that it was pulling its international staff out of their base in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz after it came under attack Saturday by demonstrators. Nato's International Security Assistance Force withdrew all its staff out of Afghan ministries at the weekend when two US advisors were shot dead in the interior ministry, apparently by an Afghan colleague.