Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: March 30, 2009
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/drone-attacks-to-continue-but-no-boots-on-ground-obama/440584/
Warning that the US expects "much more
accountability" from Pakistan in rooting out the "steady creep of
extremism" there, US President Barack Obama on Sunday said America will
go after "high-value" targets after consulting it but not deploy
ground troops in hot pursuit.
Without directly referring to the US missile
strikes in Pakistan's terrorist-infested tribal belt, Obama said: "If
we have a high-value target within our sights, after consulting with Pakistan,
we're going after them."
"But our main thrust has to be to help
Pakistan defeat these extremists," he told the Face the Nation programme
of CBS, which was aired on Sunday but had been recorded on Friday, the same
day Obama unveiled a new Afghan-Pak policy.
"But you're talking about going after
them. Are you talking about with American boots on the ground, pursuing these
people into these so-called safe havens?" CBS host Bob Schieffer asked,
to which Obama responded in negative. "No. Our plan does not change the
recognition of Pakistan as a sovereign government. We need to work with them
and through them to deal with al-Qaeda. But we have to hold them much more
accountable," he said.
"The focus over the last seven years
I think has been lost. What we want to do is to refocus attention on al-Qaeda,"
he said in an apparent reference to policy of Bush.
"We have to ensure that neither Afghanistan
nor Pakistan can serve as a safe haven for al-Qaeda. And unfortunately over
the last several years, what we've seen is essentially al-Qaeda moving several
miles from Afghanistan to Pakistan, but effectively still able to project
their violence and hateful ideologies out into the world," Obama said.
"We are going to root out their networks, their bases. We are going to
make sure that they cannot attack US citizens, US soil, US interests, and
our allies' interests around the world," he said.
On Friday, unveiling his new Af-Pak policy,
Obama had announced his support to a Congressional legislation that would
triple non-military aid to Pakistan to USD 1.5 billion a year for the next
five years, but cautioned that it will not be a "blank cheque" and
Pakistan will have to play its part.
Obama said reports of ISI links to Afghan
extremists "aren't new," and lamented that "the average Pakistani"
believes that "this is somehow America's war". "And that attitude
I think has led to a steady creep of extremism in Pakistan that is the greatest
threat to the stability of the Pakistan government, and ultimately the greatest
threat to the Pakistani people," he said.
