Washington: Defeated by the US-led international forces in Afghanistan, al Qaeda leaders have established a safe haven in Pakistan, President Barack Obama has said.
"After escaping across the border into Pakistan in
2001 and 2002, al Qaeda's leadership established a safe-haven
there," Obama said in his Afghan-policy speech at the West
Point Military Academy in New York.
Although a legitimate government was elected by the
Afghan people, it has been hampered by corruption, the drug
trade, an under-developed economy, and insufficient Security
Forces, he said.
"Over the last several years, Taliban has maintained
common cause with al Qaeda, as they both seek an overthrow of
the Afghan government. Gradually, the Taliban has begun to
take control over swaths of Afghanistan, while engaging in
increasingly brazen and devastating acts of terrorism against
the Pakistani people," the US President said.
Shortly after taking office, Obama said he approved
a long-standing request for more troops.
"After consultations with our allies, I then announced
a strategy recognising the fundamental connection between our
war effort in Afghanistan, and the extremist safe-havens in
Pakistan.
"I set a goal that was narrowly defined as disrupting,
dismantling, and defeating al Qaeda and its extremist allies,
and pledged to better coordinate our military and civilian
effort," Obama said, adding since then, the US has made
progress on some important objectives.
"High-ranking al Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been
killed, and we have stepped up the pressure on al Qaeda
world-wide," he said.
"In Pakistan, that nation's Army has gone on its
largest offensive in years. In Afghanistan, we and our allies
prevented the Taliban from stopping a presidential election,
and – although it was marred by fraud – that election produced
a government that is consistent with Afghanistan's laws and
Constitution," he said.
After 9/11, Obama said, within a matter of months, al
Qaeda was scattered and many of its operatives were killed.
"The Taliban was driven from power and pushed back on
its heels. A place that had known decades of fear now had
reason to hope," he said.
‘Cancer of terror has taken roots in Pak’
US President Barack Obama has said that the cancer of violent extremism has taken roots in the border region of Pakistan and argued the need for the US and its allies to successfully treat it.
"We are in Afghanistan to prevent a cancer from once
again spreading through that country. But this same cancer has
also taken root in the border region of Pakistan. That is why
we need a strategy that works on both sides of the border,"
Obama said at the West Point Military Academy in New York.
"In the past, there have been those in Pakistan who
have argued that the struggle against extremism is not their
fight, and that Pakistan is better off doing little or seeking
accommodation with those who use violence," he said.
But in recent years, as innocents have been killed
from Karachi to Islamabad, it has become clear that it is the
Pakistani people who are the most endangered by extremism.
"Public opinion has turned."
"The Pakistani Army has waged an offensive in Swat and
South Waziristan. And there is no doubt that the United States
and Pakistan share a common enemy," he argued.
Obama said the US was committed to a partnership with
Pakistan that is built on a foundation of mutual interests,
mutual respect, and mutual trust.
"We will strengthen Pakistan's capacity to target
those groups that threaten our countries, and have made it
clear that we cannot tolerate a safe-haven for terrorists
whose location is known, and whose intentions are clear,"
Obama said.
"America is also providing substantial resources to
support Pakistan’s democracy and development. We are the
largest international supporter for those Pakistanis displaced
by the fighting.
"And going forward, the Pakistani people must know:
America will remain a strong supporter of Pakistan's security
and prosperity long after the guns have fallen silent, so that
the great potential of its people can be unleashed," he said.
An effective partnership with Pakistan, Obama said
is one of the three core strategies of his administration
along with a military effort to create the conditions for a
transition; a civilian surge that reinforces positive action.
‘Will secure N-material from terrorists’
Stating that al Qaeda and
Taliban are keen to lay their hands on nuclear weapons and use
them against the United States and its allies, Obama vowed to secure loose nuclear materials from
terrorists.
"We will have to take away the tools of mass
destruction. That is why I have made it a central pillar of my
foreign policy to secure loose nuclear materials from
terrorists; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to
pursue the goal of a world without them," Obama said.
He said that "every nation must understand that true
security will never come from an endless race for ever-more
destructive weapons – true security will come for those who
reject them."
Obama, while addressing at the West Point Military
Academy on Af-Pak policy, said since 9/11, al Qaeda's
safe-havens have been the source of attacks against London,
Amman and Bali.
The people and governments of both Afghanistan and
Pakistan are endangered, he said.
"The stakes are even higher within a nuclear-armed
Pakistan, because we know that al Qaeda and other extremists
seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that
they would use them," Obama said.
The US President reiterated that US' overarching
goal remains the same: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat
al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to prevent its
capacity to threaten America and its allies in the future.
"To meet that goal, we will pursue the following
objectives within Afghanistan. We must deny al Qaeda a
safe-haven. We must reverse the Taliban's momentum and deny it
the ability to overthrow the government.
"And we must strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan's
security forces and government, so that they can take lead
responsibility for Afghanistan's future," he said.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 02, 2009, 13:06