The Obama Report

The mother of a US soldier killed in Afghanistan has told President Barack Obama he must give his generals what they need to beat the Taliban.

Sgt Dale Griffin, 29, was killed by a roadside bomb and Mr Obama was present at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware when his body was repatriated in November...

As the president prepares to announce how many more troops he'll send to Afghanistan, Sgt Griffin's mother Dona told Sky News she believed he should give military commanders everything they ask for.

She said: "The president is the Commander-in-Chief of our armed services. He asked if there was anything he could do and I leaned in and whispered in his ear 'Don't leave our troops hanging'."

His father, Gene, added: "Dale was the kind of guy who wanted to win the fight and he fought to win.

"I think we need to do that as well. We realize that it's a conflict that needs to be resolved and its not going away.

"Our son spoke to that with his actions so we're confident that's the way we need to move as well."

Mr Obama has been criticized over the time he has taken to decide on a new strategy.

Sgt Griffin is the first soldier from his home town of Terre Haute in Indiana to be killed in Afghanistan.

He is being honored with a memorial pavilion.

Vietnam veteran Clifford Stephens, who helps run the town's AmVet center, said Mr Obama risked repeating the mistakes of the failed campaign in south-east Asia.

He said: "Too much politics. If it was left to the services to take care of business and go in and do the job and not set deadlines and tell us who we can shoot, when we can shoot and what we can shoot, things would get done a lot quicker."