Obama praises Pakistan's anti-militant push

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

WASHINGTON (May 13 2010): US President Barack Obama said Wednesday he was "encouraged" by Pakistan's anti-extremist efforts, but warned the operation to flush out militants would take time. "I think what you have seen over the last several months is a growing recognition that they have a cancer in their midst," Obama said. "I am actually encouraged from what I have seen from the Pakistani government over the last several months.

"But just as it's going to take some time for Afghanistan's economy, for example, to fully recover from 30 years of war, it's going to take some time from Pakistan, even if there is a will, to find a way in order to effectively deal with these extremists in areas that are fairly loosely governed from Islamabad.

"You know, part of what I've been encouraged by is Pakistan's willingness to start asserting more control over some of these areas. But it's not going to happen overnight," Obama said. Obama praised Wednesday the "broad and deepening" US partnership with Afghanistan and said he and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai had renewed their goal to defeat al Qaeda.

The two leaders met to mend fences, after months of trading barbs over alleged vote-rigging and corruption in Karzai's government. "As we've seen in recent plots here in the United States, al Qaeda and its extremist allies continue to plot in the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan and a growing Taliban insurgency could mean an even larger safe haven for al Qaeda and its affiliates," Obama said after White House talks.

"So today we are reaffirming our shared goal, to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda and its extremist allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan." The Obama administration is rolling out the red carpet for Karzai's four-day visit in the US capital as senior officials from both sides mapped out what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called their "shared" future.

Ties have strained as the Obama administration pressed Karzai to clamp down on corruption, after he was returned to power for a second term in last year's fraud-tainted elections. Obama noted Wednesday that Karzai had made progress on corruption in his administration, but said "much more" needed to be done in terms of good governance.

Both leaders appeared to have aired their own concerns in their talks, which come as the United States boosts the number of US forces in Afghanistan fighting a deadly Taliban and al Qaeda insurgency. In a nod to the tensions, Karzai hailed the "frank, productive" White House talks on the need to protect Afghan civilians amid anger in Afghanistan at the deaths caused by US air strikes.

He also vowed to spend US financial resources with "extreme care." "We discussed in quite (a lot of) detail and in a very frank and productive manner the issues of protection of civilians and with respect to the judicial independence of Afghanistan," Karzai told a joint White House press conference.

His visit comes as the US military gears up for a crucial stage of Obama's strategy to defeat the Taliban and allow the increased US military presence - nearly 100,000 US forces - to start coming home next year. A US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Karzai wanted to negotiate a security agreement that would ensure a US commitment to Kabul beyond July 2011, when American forces are due to start a withdrawal.

Discussions this week have largely focused on the future of the US role in Afghanistan and what kind of legal "framework" should be drafted to define the relationship, the official told reporters. Such an agreement would cover the US-Afghan relationship over the next three to five years, he said.

One model was the security agreement signed with Iraq, and the Afghans have cited US accords with major allies such as Japan or Australia, the official said. Karzai was also expected to press for greater support for plans to reintegrate Taliban insurgents - over which Washington has expressed some misgivings.

Despite promising to deal with endemic corruption when he took office for five more years in November, Karzai is widely considered to have taken little action other than blaming donor nations for lax supervision of pledged aid. The US Congress was also set to press Karzai to rein in corruption during meetings this week. "We do have questions that require answers," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

Clinton said the series of meetings would help the Karzai government present a more detailed plan for strengthening institutions at an international conference in Kabul on July 20, which builds on talks in London in January. Vice President Joe Biden was also to host a dinner at his residence for the visiting Afghan leader later Wednesday.