Obama has pledged US infrastructural support to both Afghanistan and Pakistan, writes DENIS STAUNTONin Washington
THE LEADERS of Afghanistan and Pakistan have ended two days of talks with the Obama administration and US lawmakers aimed at developing a more coherent, common approach to dealing with the Taliban insurgency in both countries.
President Barack Obama’s strategy in the region is based on a perception of the instability in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single problem that can best be addressed on a regional, rather than a national basis.
“We have several countries but we have one theatre. And this is the way we’re looking at it,” national security adviser Gen Jim Jones said after the three presidents met at the White House.
Mr Obama went further, declaring that the security of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States are linked and that all three countries share a common goal – “to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda and its extremist allies in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their ability to operate in either country in the future”.
The talks in Washington were overshadowed by the deaths of dozens of Afghan civilians, apparently as a result of a US airstrike. Mr Obama expressed his condolences to Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai and promised an investigation, but stopped short of admitting that US forces were responsible for the deaths.
White House officials said Mr Karzai did not ask Mr Obama to halt the airstrikes and that Pakistan’s Asif Ali Zardari did not raise the issue of the use of US Predator aircraft to attack insurgents inside his country, although such operations are deeply unpopular among Pakistanis.
Mr Obama promised more American help for both governments, notably in agricultural know-how and trade assistance, and he pledged US support for the democratic institutions in both countries.
The US president stopped short, however, of endorsing Mr Karzai, who faces elections in August, or Mr Zardari, who is increasingly unpopular at home.
The White House is impatient with the failure of both the Afghan and Pakistani governments to rein in the advance of the Taliban.
Washington’s anxiety about the situation in Pakistan – which has nuclear weapons – is especially acute, despite Mr Zardari’s promise to move large troop numbers towards the Afghan border.
Taliban fighters have advanced to within 60 miles of Pakistan’s capital in recent weeks and Gen Jones declined to say if he believed the Pakistani military response would be effective.
Privately, US officials worry that Pakistan’s armed forces, whose focus has long been on a decades-old stand-off with India, are ill-equipped for the counter-insurgency operations needed to confront the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Mr Obama has asked Congress to approve funding to build roads, schools and hospitals in Pakistan in an effort to persuade Pakistanis that the US has an interest in improving their wellbeing.
“I want the Pakistani people to understand that America is not simply against terrorism – we are on the side of their hopes and their aspirations, because we know that the future of Pakistan must be determined by the talent, innovation and intelligence of its people,” he said.