Obama vowed to win the conflict being waged by al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying the situation is 'increasingly perilous' and warning terror groups they face defeat.
The US moves were welcomed by allies ahead of an international conference on Afghanistan in The Hague next week.
Britain is reportedly preparing a troop increase in Afghanistan and Russia said it's ready to step up cooperation with NATO in the country. EU countries said they could increase civilian help.
'Multiple intelligence estimates have warned that al-Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the US homeland from its safe-haven in Pakistan,' Obama said in a televised speech on Friday announcing a review of the war.
'We have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan and to prevent their return to either country in the future,' he said.
The president said 4,000 more US troops will be sent to Afghanistan to train the army and police - on top of an extra 17,000 combat forces already authorised - and aid to Pakistan will be tripled to $US7.5 billion ($A10.65 billion) over five years.
'Make no mistake, al-Qaeda and its extremist allies are a cancer that risks killing Pakistan from within,' he said, hours after a suicide bomb at a mosque in Pakistan killed more than 50 people and wounded 50 more.
But he warned Pakistan must play a more active role in eliminating militant groups. 'After years of mixed results, we will not and cannot provide a blank cheque.'
Obama also called on US global partners to join his push to send more civilian and development workers to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan embraced the US strategy. 'We agree with the contents of his speech,' President Hamid Karzai's chief spokesman, Homayun Hamidzada, told AFP.
'We particularly appreciate the recognition that the al-Qaeda threat mainly emanates from Pakistan and it poses a danger to Afghanistan and our international friends here,' he said.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari also backed Obama's 'initiatives to strengthen democracy', Pakistan's state media reported.
Following reports that more US missile strikes on Pakistan militant targets could be part of the tactics, Pakistan's foreign ministry had earlier asked Washington to reconsider.
'Pakistan's concerns in this regard have been conveyed to the US government at the highest level,' foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said.
US officials said they expect to secure pledges for additional military help in Afghanistan when Obama presents the strategy at the NATO alliance annual summit on the France-Germany border.
Britain's chief of staff, General Richard Dannatt, told The Times that troops from Britain's 12 Mechanised Brigade have been 'earmarked' for Afghanistan.
He said there are no plans to send all the brigade's 4,000 troops to join the 8,000 British troops already there. The Times cited defence sources as saying 1,700 to 2,000 extra troops are seen as 'the uppermost ceiling'.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan has 60,000 troops and there are another 10,000 US forces not under NATO command.
At a conference in Moscow on Afghanistan attended by both the United States and Iran, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country is prepared to expand cooperation with NATO.
Moscow has already allowed the transit of non-lethal material through its territory. 'We are ready to examine other kinds of constructive cooperation,' he said.
The Moscow meeting's participants emphasised 'the need for sustained international support to strengthen Afghan security institutions to effectively combat the scourges of terrorism and production and trafficking of narcotics'.
European foreign ministers said they are ready to increase civilian action in Afghanistan, to support the US strategy. 'We are always prepared to do more,' Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the EU presidency, said at a ministerial meeting.
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said more financial aid to Afghanistan will be announced at The Hague meeting on Tuesday.
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