WASHINGTON - US PRESIDENT Barack Obama will host a summit with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts on Wednesday, the White House said, amid growing US concern over the deteriorating situation in the region.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani leader Asif Ali Zardari will also hold separate talks with Mr Obama as well as a mini-summit, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Friday.

'The president looks forward to discussing with these two democratically elected leaders how we can work together to enhance our cooperation in this important part of the world as the United States implements a new strategy' for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said Mr Gibbs.

Mr Obama has put nuclear-armed Pakistan, a key regional US ally, at the centre of the fight against Al-Qaeda as Washington dispatches 4,000 more troops, in addition to an extra 17,000 already committed, to Afghanistan.

The plan, unveiled in March, includes a focus on flushing out Al-Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan and boosting civilian efforts to build up both Afghanistan and Pakistan, notably in agriculture and education.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said top officials from both countries would be in Washington for the Wednesday visit, but did not say whether they would include her counterparts Shah Mehmood Qureshi of Pakistan and Rangeen Dadfar Spanta of Afghanistan.

Mrs Clinton held three-way talks with the two foreign ministers here in February. The trilateral format is 'quite helpful at beginning to change mindsets and, frankly, set forth some requirements about what we expect from these governments,' Mrs Clinton said.

Mr Obama said on Wednesday that Pakistan's powerful military was starting to end its 'obsession' with historic rival India and refocusing efforts on fighting extremists at home.

Pakistan has fought three fully-fledged wars with India since its birth in 1947, after the countries gained independence from Britain.

In February Mr Obama said Afghanistan had not replicated gains in Iraq, where, he said, 'you get a sense that the political system is now functioning in a meaningful way.' 'You do not see that yet in Afghanistan. They've got elections coming up, but effectively the national government seems very detached from what's going on in the surrounding community,' Mr Obama said. -- AFP