New York - The United Nations' role in Afghanistan is expected to increase in order to meet the new strategy launched by US President Barack Obama on Friday to deal with terrorism and the al-Qaeda network in that country, a senior US official said.

The official, who briefed some UN-based correspondents Friday on the new US Afghan strategy on background only, said the UN Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) will assume a "very important role the stabilization and development."

"UNAMA will have a critical role," the official said.

But the US diplomat declined to be more specific about the expansion of the mission, either about resources and personnel, saying that it would depend on the outcome of the international conference on Afghanistan in The Hague on Tuesday.

That gathering is expected to discuss the make-up of a special group, mentioned by Obama in his speech on Friday, which will launch a "concerted and collective effort" to deal with the Afghan situation. He said the group will be "broad-based" and does not rule out the possibility that it would include the Central Asian nations, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia and China.

The diplomat said new staff will be recruited to fill up vacancies as well as increase the number of experts at the UN mission in Afghanistan.

The senior US official in New York, echoing Obama's earlier remarks, said the new US strategy in Afghanistan is aimed at "disrupting and defeating" al Qaeda and eliminating terrorists' safe havens. He said the strategy calls for a joint military and civilian effort to root out terrorism as well drug trafficking.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday named Peter W Galbraith, a US expert on arms control, as deputy chief of UNAMA, working with Kai Eide of Norway, who is the UN special envoy for Afghanistan.

The UN Security Council on Monday renewed the mandate of its mission in Afghanistan for another year, emphasizing its "central and impartial role" in building peace and stability in the troubled nation.

The mission, with 115 international and more than 300 local staff, will lead international efforts to assist the government in Kabul, including the organization of general elections in August.

The 15-nation council asked its mission to strengthen cooperation with the NATO-led international security force (ISAF), which is composed of about 55,000 troops from the 26 NATO countries and 15 non-NATO countries.

Ban on Friday joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting in Moscow to discuss Afghan security issues that are impacting Central Asia, as well as Tuesday's conference in The Hague.

Ban said in Moscow that he supports a "judicious deployment" of additional international troops to improve security for the Afghan people and secure the general elections in August, at which Afghans are expected to elect a new president.

Ban's remarks were made on the same day Obama confirmed plans to deploy an additional 17,000 US troops to Aghanistan and 4,000 troops to train the Afghan army.

"More troops will also mean more trainers for the national security forces," Ban said. "Strengthening those forces is a top priority. So is reform of the police, the interior ministry, and other Afghan security institutions and portfolios."

"This will help us achieve our common goal of stability in Afghanistan and in the wider region," he said. (dpa)