Obama's Task: A Tough Sell on Friendly Territory.

How do you persuade America's allies to stick with the plan in Afghanistan when the strategy itself is being reconsidered -- for the second time in six months? That is one of President Obama's primary challenges this week in New York as he tries for the first time to use his popularity around the world and his skills of persuasion at the United Nations -- friendly but unfamiliar territory -- to urge nervous allies to stick with what a month ago he called a ''war of necessity.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]