Islamabad - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday welcomed the initiatives announced by his US counterpart Barack Obama to strengthen democracy and "pass a bill for 1.5 billion dollars aid to Pakistan every year."

"Pakistan has always held the Pak-US relations in high esteem and his announcements during the speech on a new strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan will further cement these ties," Zardari said in a statement, according to the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan.

Separately, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani termed Obama's new policy as Pakistan's "victory."

"We have always said that the problem of the militancy and extremism cannot be resolved merely by the use of force," he was cited as saying by Geo television.

"The United States has accepted our point of view," he told reporters in the southern port city of Karachi.

Outlining new US policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, Obama on Friday vowed to defeat the Islamist extremist Taliban and the al- Qaeda terrorist network by use of extra military force, but at the same time he promised additional aid for both countries. (dpa)