By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader has ridiculed President Barack Obama's plan to increase troop numbers in Afghanistan in a new Internet audio recording released Monday.
Ayman al-Zawahri also urged al-Qaida in Iraq to "break the borders" of neighboring countries and liberate Jerusalem from the Israelis, whom he called "crusader invaders."
Al-Zawahri's comments were posted on a militant Web site Monday and came as the Obama administration plans to increase troop levels in Afghanistan and start withdrawing forces from Iraq.
"What Obama is doing by increasing the troops is adding more fuel to the fire that is already burning," he said.
Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant also criticized Pakistan's US-allied government for its attempts to make deals with Muslim fundamentalists along its border with Afghanistan in hopes of draining support for extremists.