John Fisher Burns, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, has labelled the war in Afghanistan the biggest challenge that will face the administration of United States President-elect Barack Obama.

Burns, addressing the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) annual Journalism Awards Friday night, gave local journalists a gripping description of the war.

"We have to hope and pray that Afghanistan does not become his (Obama) Vietnam," said Burns, the London bureau chief of The New York Times.

The US and its allies suffered massive military losses during the unpopular Vietnam War, which claimed more than a million lives from 1957-1975.

Possible graveyard

Burns said Afghanistan could become a graveyard if US ground troops are increased, as emboldened Taliban fighters have laid siege to vast swathes of the country in an unexpected resurgence.

The war in Afghanistan, which began in October 2001, was launched by the United States with the aid of the United Kingdom in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The objective of the invasion was to capture chief instigator Osama bin Laden, destroy al-Qaida terrorist cells and oust the Taliban regime. Obama has signalled his intention to boost troop levels in Afghanistan simultaneously with a drawdown in deployments to Iraq, a military front which experts argue has distracted the Pentagon from current President George W. Bush's original 'War on Terror' campaign.

Since January, more than 5,000 Afghans and 250 allied soldiers have been killed.

Burns received his second Pulitzer in the late 1990s, this time for coverage of the harrowing regime imposed on Afghanistan by the Taliban.

Range of issues

While delivering the keynote address during the awards ceremony held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, he spoke on a range of issues, including the role of journalists in contemporary society.

He said one of the prime touchstones of journalism was accountability.

"Be first a citizen and then a journalist," he said. "Ask who is being wounded by this (story) - is it fair?" the British journalist said.

The awards ceremony was the highlight of National Journalism Week, which ended last Friday. The commemoration was spearheaded by the PAJ, which celebrated its 65th anniversary.