New Delhi

FACED with a resurgent Taleban and the growing threat from Islamic State, Afghan watchers have little confidence that US President Donald Trump's new approach to the 16-year conflict in Afghanistan will do much to alter the dynamics of America's longest war.

Pledging more troops, increasing pressure on Pakistan to stop providing a "safe haven for terrorists" and renewing diplomatic outreach to the Taleban, Mr Trump late on Monday announced an open-ended commitment to fighting the war in Afghanistan. "We are not nation building again," he said. "We are killing terrorists."