31 March 2009
New Afghan-Pakistan Plan a Comprehensive Strategy, Obama Says
White House seeks renewed focus on diplomacy, development
Washington — America’s new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan is focused on dismantling terrorist networks but will employ a wide array of tactics, from strengthening regional security forces to a renewed focus on diplomacy, development and international cooperation, says President Obama.
“We have to ensure that neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan can serve as a safe haven for al-Qaida,” Obama said in a March 29 interview with the CBS television network’s Face the Nation, calling the new plan “a comprehensive strategy that doesn’t just rely on bullets or bombs, but also relies on agricultural specialists, on doctors, on engineers, to help create an environment in which people recognize that they have much more at stake in partnering with us, and the international community, than giving in to some of these extremist ideologies.”
The new plan, announced March 27, was the product of several months of policy review and close consultations with Afghan and Pakistani officials and with U.S. allies taking part in the 41-nation, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. (See “Obama Announces New Strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan.”)
Obama had previously ordered 17,000 soldiers and Marines to reinforce the U.N.-mandated peacekeeping mission ahead of Afghan elections in August. The new plan calls for 4,000 additional troops, who will be dedicated to building on progress in training Afghan security forces to safeguard their own country.
“A central part of our strategy is to train the Afghan National Army so that they are taking the lead,” Obama said. “That’s been one of the few success stories that we’ve seen over the last several years. … The Afghan National Army actually has great credibility. They are effective fighters. We need to grow that.”
The plan also stresses the importance of supporting Pakistan in its struggle against extremists, Obama said, a point underlined by the March 27 suicide bombing of a mosque in northwestern Pakistan that claimed more than 50 lives, followed by a terrorist attack on a police academy in Lahore on March 30.
“One of the concerns that we’ve had building up over the last several years is a notion, I think, among the average Pakistani that this is somehow America’s war, and that they are not invested,” Obama said. “That attitude, I think, has led to a steady creep of extremism in Pakistan that is the greatest threat to the stability of the Pakistan government and, ultimately, the greatest threat to the Pakistani people.”
Obama is seeking an expanded civilian presence in Afghanistan and has asked the U.S. Congress to approve legislation authorizing $7.5 billion in direct support to Pakistan over the next five years. The funds would be used to build schools, roads and hospitals as well as to strengthen Pakistan’s democracy. The legislation is being sponsored by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry and the committee’s ranking Republican, Senator Richard Lugar.
“Our task in working with Pakistan is not just military, it’s also our capacity to build their capacity, through civilian interventions, through development, through aid assistance,” Obama said.
Obama is also calling on Congress to pass legislation to create opportunity zones in the Afghan-Pakistan border region that would allow manufacturers to develop local economies and bring stability to areas plagued by violence.
“What we want to do is say to the Pakistani people, ‘You are our friends. You are our allies. We are going to give you the tools to defeat al-Qaida and to root out these safe havens. But we also expect some accountability, and we expect that you understand the severity and the nature of the threat.’”
