PAKISTAN

WASHINGTON: Pakistan is in danger of becoming the "epicenter" of global extremism if the United States and its allies fail to bring stability to neighbouring Afghanistan, US Senator John Kerry said Monday.

Kerry was in Afghanistan last week and helped convince Afghan President Hamid Karzai to agree to an election run-off on November 7.

Kerry's comments came as President Barack Obama held another meeting with his national security team to consider the administration's strategy in Afghanistan and whether to send more troops to the war-torn country.

In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, a US think-tank, Kerry said the US must be realistic about what it can achieve in Afghanistan.

But he warned that a failure to restrain the Taliban's influence and defeat al-Qaeda would be a boon for followers in Pakistan, where much of the terrorist group fled after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan began in 2001, soon after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"What happens in Afghanistan has an impact on Pakistan. Pakistan is not only the headquarters of al-Qaeda today, but it could easily become the epicenter of extremism in the world," said Kerry, who chairs the foreign policy committee of the Senate.

"Instability in Afghanistan only increases the risk of conflagration where the world can least afford it, next door in Pakistan," said Kerry.

Obama has been meeting for weeks with his top advisors as part of a comprehensive review of his strategy in the region and whether to send as many as 40,000 extra troops to Afghanistan.