“We congratulate Obama for winning the Nobel,” said Siamak Hirai, a spokesman for Karzai.

“His hard work and his new vision on global relations, his will and efforts for creating friendly and good relations at global level and global peace make him the appropriate recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize,” he told AFP.

Obama sensationally won the award less than a year after he took office with the jury hailing his “extraordinary” diplomatic efforts on the international stage.

Obama, 48, took office on January 1 and has since sought to restore US standing in the world after widespread criticism over the war in Iraq and the world superpower’s attitude to efforts to control global warming.

He is currently considering a request from his military commanders to send another 40,000 troops to Afghanistan, where an insurgency by Taliban militants is gaining strength, and the death toll of foreign soldiers has reached record levels.