Appearing from Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Muzaffarabad & Quetta

Wednesday, December 02, 2009, Zil`Hajj 14, 1430

Afghan policy
Obama phones Zardari, Singh

Tanvir siddiqi

Islamabad—US President Barack Obama last night telephoned President Asif Ali Zardari hours before the launching of the new Afghan Policy by the United States administration.

President Barack Obama mentioned the broad outlines of the U.S. Afghan Policy.

President Obama reaffirmed U.S. committment to a long-term partnership with Pakistan for security and stability.

President Asif Ali Zardari was among the five world leaders called by President Barack Obama on the eve of the launching of Afghan Policy, with others being the leaders of France, Canada, Australia and Afghanistan.

President Obama also called the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and discussed with him the situation in Afghanistan and further steps required to bring peace and stability in the country.

Singh told Obama that India would play a constructive role in the negotiations and looked forward to a successful outcome in Copenhagen.

Obama’s call to Singh takes place close on the heels of the two leaders’ meeting in Washington during which the Afghan issue was discussed prominently.

Singh had said it was important for all major regional and international players to put their weight behind the Afghan government.

Obama had highlighted the importance of tackling violence and extremism emanating from the region “in a serious way”.

India feels that due to the continued threat posed by terrorism emanating from Afghanistan, the world community should stay engaged there and not think about “pre-mature exit” as it could embolden terrorists.

Singh is of the view that India and the US needed to do more in cooperation on counter-terrorism.

“I sincerely hope that the world community will have the wisdom to stay engaged in that process and premature talk of exit would only embolden the terrorist elements who are out to destabilise not only our part of the world but civilised world everywhere,” Singh had said in Washington last week.

In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the US president would be making several calls to world leaders to brief them on his new Afghan-Pak policy.

He said the new Afghan-Pak policy would come with an exit strategy and will not be “an open-ended commitment”.

“Ultimately, the strategy will be to transfer the security responsibility of an area to the Afghans,” he said.

More than 100,000 US and NATO troops are in Afghanistan, and the president is expected to announce the addition of over 30,000 more US troops to support the war effort.
 

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