US President Barack Obama on Tuesday committed 30,000 additional US troops to the war in Afghanistan, set a July 2011 deadline for start of their withdrawal and acknowledged that success in the war against the Al-Qaida and the Taliban was "inextricably linked" to cooperation from Pakistan.
Laying out his plan at the US Military Academy in West Point, NY, Obama said he was announcing a "strategy recognising the fundamental connection between our war effort in Afghanistan, and the extremist safe havens in Pakistan."
The Al-Qaida leadership had been taking shelter in Pakistan since 2001. Obama noted that stakes in nuclear-armed Pakistan are even higher than in Afghanistan, saying, "We know that Al-Qaida and other extremists seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that they would use them."
Explaining US presence in Afghanistan, Obama said the international force was there to "prevent a cancer from once again spreading through that country." But, "this same cancer has also taken root in the border region of Pakistan. That is why we need a strategy that works on both sides of the border." The 30,000 additional troops will be deployed rapidly in the first part of 2010. These troops will reinforce the 68,000 Americans and 39,000 non-US troops already in the country.
Noting the sharp increase in the number of deadly terrorist attacks in major Pakistani cities, Obama said it had become clear that it is the Pakistani people who were the most endangered by extremism. "Public opinion has turned... And there is no doubt that the United States and Pakistan share a common enemy," he said. Obama said Al-Qaida extremists had "distorted and defiled Islam, one of the world’s great religions, to justify the slaughter of innocents."
Obama said his decision was in the US national interest. "I do not make this decision lightly. I make this decision because I am convinced that our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said, describing the region as the epicentre of extremism.
"It is from here that we were attacked on 9/11, and it is from here that new attacks are being plotted as I speak. This is no idle danger; no hypothetical threat," he said. The president revealed that in the last few months, US law enforcement had apprehended extremists who trained in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan. "This danger will only grow if the region slides backwards, and the Al-Qaida can operate with impunity," he warned.
A White House fact sheet, circulated even as Obama was laying out his strategy, said
the US goal in Pakistan would be to ensure that the Al-Qaida was defeated and Pakistan remained stable. The New York Times reported that Obama had signed off on a CIA plan to expand its activities in Pakistan. This could include drone strikes in Baluchistan, where senior Afghan Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding. Obama called on US allies to pitch in and urged Afghans to take more responsibility for their country.
He said the US would meet its objectives in three ways. First, troops would seek to break the Taliban’s momentum, secure population centres and create conditions for transferring responsibility to the Afghans and begin withdrawing by July 2011.
Second, the US would work with its allies, the United Nations and the Afghan people to pursue a more effective civilian strategy. “The days of providing a blank cheque are over,” he said. Going forward, he added, the US would set clear expectations of those who receive its assistance. Obama assured Afghans the US would forge a lasting friendship in which “America is your partner, and never your patron.”
Third, the US will act in full recognition that its success in Afghanistan is linked to its partnership with Pakistan. Obama admitted that in the past the US relationship with Pakistan was too often defined narrowly. “Those days are over,” he declared. “America will remain a strong supporter of Pakistan’s security and prosperity long after the guns have fallen silent, so that the great potential of its people can be unleashed,” Obama said.
The president has spent the past several weeks weighing his options in Afghanistan and has been accused by critics of dithering. On Tuesday, he addressed that criticism head on. “As your commander-in-chief, I owe you a mission that is clearly defined, and worthy of your service,” he told the Army cadets gathered at West Point. He said the review had allowed him to ask hard questions and explore options.
Dismissing suggestions that Afghanistan would be another Vietnam, he said: “Unlike Vietnam, we are joined by a broad coalition of 43 nations that recognises the legitimacy of our action. Unlike Vietnam, we are not facing a broad-based popular insurgency. Unlike Vietnam, the American people were viciously attacked from Afghanistan, and remain a target for those same extremists who are plotting along its border.” Obama, like his predecessor George W. Bush, said the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US were the reason why America was fighting in Afghanistan, where Al-Qaida was given refuge by the Taliban.
