Washington: The United States cannot succeed in defeating terrorism in Afghanistan unless it changes its policy on Pakistan, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has said.
"As President, I will make the fight against al-Qaeda and Taliban the top priority that it should be. This is a war that we have to win," said Obama on Tuesday in his major foreign policy speech. The Illinois Senator explained his plan for withdrawing US forces from Iraq and how he would fight the al-Qaeda dens in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"It is unacceptable that almost seven years after nearly 3,000 Americans were killed on our soil, the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 are still at large. Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahari are recording messages to their followers and plotting more terror."
"Al-Qaeda has an expanding base in Pakistan that is probably no farther from their old Afghan sanctuary than a train ride from Washington to Philadelphia and yet today we have five times more troops in Iraq than Afghanistan," he said.
The US cannot succeed in Afghanistan or secure “our homeland” unless it changes its Pakistan policy. "We must expect more of the Pakistani government, but we must offer more than a blank cheque to a General who has lost the confidence of his people. It's time to strengthen stability by standing up for the aspirations of the Pakistani people."
Obama said the greatest threat to American security lies in the tribal regions of Pakistan, where terrorists train and strike into Afghanistan. "We cannot tolerate a terrorist sanctuary, and as President, I won't. We need a stronger and sustained partnership between Afghanistan, Pakistan and NATO to secure the border, to take out terrorist camps, and to crack down on cross-border insurgents.
"We need more troops, more helicopters, more satellites, more Predator drones in the Afghan border region," Obama said.
Obama accused his Republican rival John McCain and President George W Bush of intending to keeping US troops in Iraq. "George Bush and John McCain don't have a strategy for success in Iraq; they have a strategy for staying in Iraq. They said we couldn't leave when violence was up; they say we can't leave when violence is down," he said.
"They refuse to press the Iraqis to make tough choices, and they label any timetable to re-deploy our troops surrender, even though we would be turning Iraq over to a sovereign Iraqi government, not to a terrorist enemy.”
Comments
0 comment