Afghan, Pakistani leaders praise new US strategy

[ej510]

Source: AP

By SEBASTIAN ABBOT – 35 minutes ago

KABUL (AP) — The leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan welcomed the new strategy President Barack Obama unveiled Friday for dealing with the worsening conflict in the two countries. The Afghan president said it would increase the chance of successfully facing the rising militant threat.

U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2001, but many members of the militant group fled to Pakistan, where they have been staging cross-border attacks alongside al-Qaida against Afghan and international troops.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Obama's plan to strengthen Afghanistan's security forces by providing an additional 4,000 troops to train the country's army and police would benefit both his country and the region.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari praised Obama's plan to give his country $1.5 billion in civilian aid annually in an attempt to improve people's lives and counter the influence of Taliban and al-Qaida militants, said the state news agency.

Obama said Friday that the U.S. would also send hundreds of additional civilians to Afghanistan, with the overarching goal "to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future."

Karzai said in a statement that the new strategy "will bring Afghanistan and the international community closer to success."

Other Afghan officials praised the new U.S. strategy, especially Obama's focus on the problem of militant sanctuaries in Pakistan. Obama called the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan "the most dangerous place in the world."

The U.S. and Afghanistan have repeatedly called on Pakistan to crack down on militants on its territory. The Pakistani government has pledged to do so, but many Afghan and Western officials suspect officers within the country's spy agency of supporting the Taliban, which Pakistan helped rise to power in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

"We particularly welcome the recognition that the problem in Afghanistan has strong regional dynamics and there has to be a regional solution," said Afghan presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada about the new U.S. strategy. "We also welcome the recognition that the al-Qaida threat is emanating from Pakistan."

Hamidzada also praised Obama's focus on increasing civilian aid to both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"We appreciate the focus on development assistance for the Afghan and Pakistani people while not losing sight of the fight against terrorism," Hamidzada told The Associated Press.

Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Sultan Baheen lauded the U.S. plan to help increase the size of the Afghan army from about 80,000 soldiers today to 134,000 by 2011. But he said Afghanistan also needed help equipping its troops.

"We need new equipment, weapons," Baheen told the AP. "Still many of our forces are using old Russian weapons."

Afghan police are often even less well-equipped than the army and have suffered the brunt of militant attacks in the country. Obama's new plan calls for increasing the number of police from 78,000 to 82,000.

Obama has also pledged to send an additional 17,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan this year to battle the Taliban and al-Qaida. There are currently roughly 65,000 international forces in Afghanistan, more than half from the U.S.

The U.S. director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, said Thursday that the country also needs to improve its intelligence capabilities in Afghanistan.

"I think the tactical intelligence that supports the operations both on the civilian and military side needs to be ramped up," Blair told reporters.

In a sign of the rising violence in Afghanistan, clashes in the south killed 18 militants, officials said Friday.

Troops killed 11 militants and captured another Thursday night during a raid targeting a key Taliban insurgent in a village in southern Helmand province, the U.S. military said in a statement.

In the same province Thursday, police killed five militants and wounded six others during an operation that also captured three fighters, the Interior Ministry said.

In neighboring Oruzgan province, Afghan and international forces killed two militants and destroyed a bomb in an air strike, the military said.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD976H07G0

[msongs]

1. they welcome the unending stream of welfare $$ to stuff in their corrupt pockets nt

[Mari333]

2. in other news, charlie mccarthy praises edgar bergen

with their hand up the ass of their puppet govts, america makes sure its little regimes speak eloquently of its puppet masters.

[Posteritatis]

3. I find it interesting that NGOs and aid orgs are finally getting consulted in this

There's a BBC article on this (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7966982.stm) that mentions that, more or less in passing.

I dunno, I just find it something of a good thing that groups other than nation-states are starting to get seats at the table for these sorts of situations. I've been wondering about how NGO influence will shape things in the future for awhile now.

(Also, insert obligatory snarky buzzwords here, as I assume it's required for the topic.)