Obama Announces New Strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan
By Merle David Kellerhals Jr., Staff Writer,
America.gov
Heavy emphasis on training additional Afghan security forces
Washington — Saying it is an international security
challenge of the highest order, President Obama announced a new strategy for
Afghanistan and Pakistan that aims to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida and
the Taliban.
In addition to 17,000 U.S. troops and Marines
that are being deployed to Afghanistan in the coming months to join the 38,000
already there, Obama said he also is ordering 4,000 more troops who will act as
trainers for the Afghan army. That training force will come from the U.S. Army's
82nd Airborne Division, which is stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and
will be in place early this fall.
"We will shift the emphasis of our mission to
training and increasing the size of the Afghan security forces, so that they can
eventually take the lead in securing their country," Obama said at a briefing
March 27 in Washington. "For the first time, this will fully resource our effort
to train and support the Afghan army and police."
Every American combat unit in Afghanistan will be
partnered with an Afghan unit, and more trainers will be requested from NATO
allies to ensure that every Afghan unit has a coalition partner, Obama said. The
goal, the president said, is to build the Afghan army from about 80,000 troops
to 134,000 and expand the national police force from 78,000 to 82,000 officers.
Currently, the total number of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan is 70,140
troops, according to the Pentagon and NATO.
The announcement comes as Obama prepares to
attend the 60th anniversary NATO summit in Strasbourg, France, and Kehl,
Germany, April 3–4. NATO leads the International Security Assistance Force in
Afghanistan and the alliance's future course there will be a central topic at
the summit. The summit has added significance because it will be Obama's first
trip to Europe since becoming president January 20.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will
attend a United Nations conference on Afghanistan March 31 in The Hague,
Netherlands. She will join representatives from more than 80 nations.
While the new strategy sets the terms for helping
Pakistan enhance its own security as well as that of Afghanistan, the president
has set no timetable for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. forces from
Afghanistan. He previously set a timetable to withdraw the majority of U.S.
combat brigades from Iraq by August 2010 and all remaining forces there by the
end of 2011.
Obama said achieving stability on both sides of
the Afghan-Pakistan border eventually will allow the United States and its
allies to withdraw their forces from Afghanistan. Members of the al-Qaida
terrorist group and the Taliban, which controlled Afghanistan before being
routed by a U.S.-led coalition in late 2001, are believed to be hiding in the
tribal regions of northwestern Pakistan in the Hindu Kush mountain range that
straddles eastern and central Afghanistan, northwestern Pakistan and
northwestern India.
In addition, Obama said he has asked the U.S.
Congress to approve legislation authorizing $1.5 billion in direct support to
Pakistan every year over the next five years. The funds would be used to build
schools, roads and hospitals as well as to strengthen Pakistan's democracy. The
legislation is being sponsored by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman
John Kerry and the committee's ranking Republican, Senator Richard Lugar.
Obama is also calling on Congress to pass
legislation to create opportunity zones in the Afghan-Pakistan border region to
develop the economy and bring stability in areas plagued by continual violence.
Obama said he is increasing civilian support to
Afghanistan in the form of specialists in agriculture, education, engineering,
the law and economics. "That's how we can help the Afghan government serve its
people and develop an economy that isn't dominated by illicit drugs," the
president said.
Obama also said the United States will not be
acting alone. It will include a new contact group for Afghanistan involving the
United Nations, NATO allies and other partners from the Central Asian states,
the Gulf nations, Iran, Russia, India and China, he said.
"None of these nations benefit from a base for
al-Qaida terrorists and a region that descends into chaos," he said. "The United
States of America did not choose to fight a war in Afghanistan."
The conflict in Afghanistan was thrust on the
United States because of the al-Qaida-led terrorist attacks on the United States
in 2001, Obama said. But there have been al-Qaida-inspired attacks on other
countries of the world since that time. Most of the blood on al-Qaida's hands is
that of Muslims, and the future the terrorist group offers to the Muslim world
is one without hope or opportunity, and a future without justice or peace, the
president said.
The president spoke by telephone March 26 with
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to brief
them on his plans. The new strategy has been under development from the day
Obama took office. Consultations have been held with U.S. national security
officials, the armed forces, NATO, both the Afghan and Pakistani governments,
international organizations and donors, and members of Congress, the president
said.
About
America.gov: U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Information
Programs (IIP) engages international audiences on issues of foreign policy,
society and values to help create an environment receptive to U.S. national
interests.
