By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer
Washington — A key component for peace in Afghanistan is to build the country’s capacity so that its security forces “can take responsibility for their future,” President Obama said after meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron at the White House.
At a joint press conference July 20, Obama and Cameron said they both agree that the right strategy is twofold: break the former Taliban regime’s insurgency and build Afghan capacity.
Cameron, in his first visit as prime minister, said the American and British relationship is strong because it delivers for both nations, and because it is a partnership of choice. “To me, it is also an absolutely essential relationship if we’re going to deliver the security and the prosperity that our people need,” he said.
“On Afghanistan, there is no clearer, no more tangible illustration of Britain and America standing shoulder to shoulder in our national interest than this mission that we are engaged in together,” Cameron said.
Obama and Cameron evaluated the current Afghanistan strategy and its progress, and reaffirmed their commitment to the mission. A critical part, essential for the transition to Afghan control, is preparing the Afghan National Army and police to provide security for their country.
The Afghan government presented plans July 20 at an international conference, representing 40 nations and 80 delegations, meeting in Kabul to implement President Hamid Karzai’s commitment to improve national security, economic growth, governance and the delivery of basic services. The Karzai government also presented a peace and reconciliation plan to get the Taliban insurgents to lay down their arms, which Obama said the United States supports.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton led the U.S. delegation to the Kabul conference, after attending U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue meetings in Islamabad July 18–19.
According to Obama, the Kabul conference yielded an agreement for transitioning the security of Afghanistan’s provinces to the control of Afghan security forces. And Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to increase economic opportunities on both sides of the border, signing the first trade agreement between the two countries in decades, he added.
“These are all important achievements, and they go a long way towards helping create the conditions needed for Afghans to assume greater responsibility for their country,” Obama told reporters. The United States is planning to begin transitioning some of its military forces out of Afghanistan next year, as conditions permit, he said.
“This is not an easy fight, but it is a necessary one,” Obama said. Terrorists trained in Afghanistan and the tribal regions along the Pakistani border have killed innocent civilians in the United States and Britain, he said. A wider insurgency in Afghanistan would mean a larger safe haven for al-Qaida and its affiliates to plan their next attacks.
Cameron said he and Obama also agreed during their meeting in the Oval Office on the need to reinvigorate the political strategy for Afghanistan. “Insurgencies tend not to be defeated by military means alone. There must also be political settlement,” he said.
One part of the proposed reconciliation process is for Taliban insurgents to cut themselves off from the Taliban and al-Qaida and accept the Afghan constitution so they can have a future in a peaceful Afghanistan, Cameron said. |
