Washington  - President-elect Barack Obama announced a national security team on Monday that will be tasked with mapping out a new direction for foreign policy and reshape the way the United States approaches the world.

The new team will focus on ending the conflict in Iraq and will inherit an escalating conflict in Afghanistan, where the outcome remains in doubt. They will also have to plot a strategy to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and deal with a resurgent Russia.

"All of us here also agree that the strength of our military has to be combined with the wisdom and force of our diplomacy, and that we are going to be committed to rebuilding and strengthening alliances around the world," Obama told reporters in Chicago.

By naming Senator Hillary Clinton, 61, as secretary of state, Obama is presenting the world with a well-known, high-profile figure to lead foreign policy and represent Washington abroad. She takes a more hardline approach on foreign issues than Obama and is less willing to rule out military force.

By keeping the Bush-holdover and highly regarded Robert Gates, 65, in the post of defence secretary, Obama is seeking to ensure continuity as the US military fights two wars, but Gates will be given new orders under President Obama.

"I will be giving Secretary Gates and our military a new mission as soon as I take office: responsibly ending the war in Iraq through a successful transition to Iraqi control," Obama said.

Obama also named retired Marine General James Jones, who served as NATO's supreme allied commander, as his national security adviser, and foreign policy aide Susan Rice as ambassador to the United Nations.

Obama plans to pursue a broader diplomatic approach than the outgoing President George W Bush and rely less on military might by utilizing American "soft power." But he will also be urging allies to step up their economic and military commitment to Afghanistan.

"The Bush administration basically has been: unilateral if we can, multilateral only if we must. What the new administration should say is we should be multilateral if we can, unilateral only if we must," Lawrence Korb, an analyst at the Centre for American Progress in Washington, said.

"What they have to do is change their approach to dealing with the countries around the world and dealing with the threats to the United States," he said. "And while military option should always be on the table, it should not be the first option as the current administration has done."

Gates has been commended for his handling of the Pentagon since he took over from Donald Rumsfeld two years ago. He oversaw the troop buildup in Iraq which helped produce sharp reductions in violence and holds the respect of the military brass.

Obama pledged during the campaign to remove most US combat forces from Iraq within 16 months of taking office January 20, and shift those resources to Afghanistan, where there has been a rapid deterioration of the security environment and US and NATO forces have been unable to stomp out the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Obama said he believed the timeframe was still the "right" one. It is similar to the US agreement with the Iraqi government that calls for the withdrawal of all US forces by
2011. "I will listen to the recommendations of my commanders," Obama said.

Obama and Clinton sparred ferociously during the campaign for the Democratic nomination, and Clinton argued that Obama was too inexperienced on national security issues to be president. Clinton backed the war in Iraq and Obama was against it. Now Obama has brought his chief Democratic critic into his inner circle.

"I think this is fun for the press, to try to stir up whatever quotes were generated during the course of the campaign," Obama said before touting Clinton's credentials.

"She is going to be an outstanding secretary of state. And if I didn't believe that, I wouldn't have offered her the job," Obama said. "And if she didn't believe that I was equipped to lead this nation at such a difficult time, she would not have accepted."

Obama's security team must be confirmed by the US Senate, all except for Gates, who is an incumbent.

The Republican National Committee was quick to jump on the new alliance, releasing on is website a series of Clinton quotes during the campaign criticizing Obama.

"There's a big difference between delivering a speech at an anti- war rally as a state senator, and picking up that phone at the White House at 3 am in the morning to deal with an international crisis," said one of the quotes. (dpa)