KABUL: US President Barack Obama on Sunday asked Pakistan to cooperate with Washington to root out the Taliban from the region.
Addressing around 25,000 US troops at the Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, where he was on an unannounced visit, Obama said terrorists were on the run because of the Pakistan government-led action against them.
Obama told the cheering troops that he was confident that they would stop the Taliban from regaining power in the country and would eradicate al Qaeda militants.
“Plots against our homeland, plots our allies, plots against the Afghan and Pakistani people are taking place as we speak right here,” he said.
Perpetrators: He said the perpetrators of 9/11 were still present in the region, vowing that the US troops had to eradicate them and sought Pakistan’s support to get the job done.
He told the US forces stationed in Afghanistan that American lives would be at risk if the Taliban regained Afghanistan’s control.
‘Do more’: Earlier, after a brief meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace in Kabul, the US president told Afghan leaders to do more to rein in rampant corruption and improve governance.
Obama praised recent steps in the military campaign against insurgents, but said Afghans needed to see conditions on the ground get better.
“Progress will continue to be made, but we also want to make progress on the civilian front,” Obama said, referring to anti-corruption efforts, good governance and adherence to the rule of law.
Invitation: “All of these things end up resulting in an Afghanistan that is more prosperous and more secure,” Obama said. He invited Karzai to visit Washington on May 12, the White House said.
Karzai promised that his country “would move forward into the future” to eventually take over its own security, and he thanked Obama for the American intervention in his country.
The trip, its secrecy forced by security concerns, was an extraordinary capstone to a momentous week in Obama’s presidency. He achieved the most ambitious domestic policy initiative in decades with a historic healthcare overhaul and scored his first major foreign policy achievement with a significant new arms control treaty with Russia.
Obama landed in Afghanistan for a stay of just a few hours, all in darkness, after an overnight flight from Washington. He flew by helicopter from Bagram Air Field to the capital, where Karzai greeted him at the palace. It was Obama’s second stop in a war zone as the commander in chief, coming about a year after a similar secretive trip to Iraq.
The trip was intended to let Obama tell Karzai that he must deal with corruption and cut the flow of money from poppy production and drug trafficking that is sustaining the insurgency. The US also wants Karzai to halt cronyism and rewards for warlords in government hiring and to create an effective, credible judicial system. agencies
Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\03\29\story_29-3-2010_pg1_1
0 comments:
Post a Comment