Afghan war plan:
US on track
US: President Barack Obama said Thursday the US war plan in
Afghanistan was “on track” but somberly warned that gains won by his
surge strategy at a heavy human cost were fragile and reversible.
Unveiling a long-awaited policy assessment, Obama said progress was
sufficient to permit a “responsible reduction” of US forces to begin in
July, though the scope and size of the likely drawdown appear limited.
Despite warning the Afghan war remained a “very difficult endeavour,”
Obama said a relentless US operation had placed Al-Qaeda under more
pressure than ever and argued that surge troops had made “considerable
gains” in Afghanistan.
He said Al-Qaeda was finding it harder to recruit and plot attacks
and had seen key leaders killed, although he warned the group was
“ruthless and resilient” and was still planning follow-ups to the
September 11, 2001 attacks.
“In short, Al-Qaeda is hunkered down,” Obama said as he unveiled an
unclassified version of the review at the White House, flanked by
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates.
The president also said his new strategy, announced a year ago, had
forged ahead with Pakistan, saying there was a new recognition in
Islamabad of the threat posed by extremist networks in rugged Afghan
border regions.
“Nevertheless, progress has not come fast enough, so we will continue
to insist to Pakistani leaders that terrorist safe havens within their
borders must be dealt with,” Obama said.
The overview, the result of a two-month National Security Council
assessment, said progress in Afghanistan was evident in gains by Afghan
and coalition forces against Taliban bastions in Kandahar and Helmand
provinces.
But the study was short on details and supporting evidence, and did
not include pointed criticisms of the Pakistani and Afghan governments
that have featured in US government documents leaked in recent months.
Though it pledged to work with Afghanistan to improve governance and
reduce corruption, it did not go into details on countrywide graft,
including in President Hamid Karzai’s government, that many analysts see
as endemic to Afghanistan and a severe threat to US goals.
Clinton insisted however the administration was not trying to sugar
coat the war effort, after the bloodiest year yet for foreign troops in
the nine-year conflict and public US spats with Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
“I don’t think you will find any rosy scenario people in the
leadership of this administration, starting with the president,” she
said. “This has been a very, very hard-nosed review.” WASHINGTON,
Friday, AFP
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