Washington: The White House indicated
that the Obama Administration has not yet formulated an exit
strategy as it is still focused on achieving its primary goal
of defeating al Qaeda and the Taliban in the region.
"I think the (US) President has always discussed, and
particularly since coming to office, that there isn`t a
military solution alone for Afghanistan. We do not have the
troops or the money to be there in perpetuity," the White
House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
"I think the Secretary of Defence has been pretty clear
on this, as well, that we are not there to build some utopian
democracy. We have very clear goals. We are working with
Congress on those benchmarks to disrupt, dismantle, and
destroy al Qaeda and its extremist allies," he said.
When specifically asked about the exit strategy, Gibbs
said: "The President and Congress are working on very strict
benchmarks to measure our progress in, as I just said,
dismantling, disrupting, and destroying al Qaeda."
"But the President does not in any way envision us
being there forever," Gibbs said in response to a question.
Obama will continue to talk about the objectives and
the goals that he has for this policy, Gibbs said, adding, the
US does not have the human resources or the material resources
to be there forever.
Bureau Report
