US unveils new security strategy

Barack Obama, the US president, has unveiled a new national security strategy, which calls for more global engagement and aims to downplay fears that the US is "at war" with Islam. The document, updated every four years, sets priorities for America's military, law enforcement and foreign policy agencies. It drops some of the most controversial language from the Bush administration, like the phrase "global war on terror" and references to "Islamic extremism". "The United States is waging a global campaign against al-Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates," the 52-page strategy document says. "Yet this is not a global war against a tactic - terrorism, or a religion - Islam. We are at war with a specific network, al-Qaeda, and its terrorist affiliates." The strategy also calls for US engagement with "hostile nations," closer relations with China and India, and a focus on strengthening the US economy. Several of Obama's top advisers are discussing the new strategy in a carefully-orchestrated rollout in Washington. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, gave a speech at the Brookings Institution on Thursday afternoon in which she called democracy and human rights "central" to the strategy.