While acknowledging that perhaps years of interference in the affairs of Afghanistan by Pakistan for its own vested interests--which many have contended were for strategic depth against India--cannot be eliminated overnight, President Obama on Wednesday sprang to Pakistan's defense when an Afghan journalist accused Islamabad of being two-faced regarding alleviating the situation in Afghanistan and stamping out terrorism in that country.
Nazira Azim Karimi, a correspondent for Ariana TV, Afghanistan, at the news conference held by Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the White House East Room after their Oval Office Summit, obviously reflecting the sentiments of a majority of the Afghan people, said, "Regarding Afghanistan situation, the only reason that Afghanistan is not stabilized, (is because of) Pakistan. Pakistan has two faces regarding Afghanistan. That's why all the time we have problems; as Pakistani government is not really, really honest regarding Afghanistan."
Karimi told Obama, "I need your answer. What is the new policy of the United States to solve this problem."
Obama, apparently taken aback by this question, after taking a few moments to collect his thoughts, said, "President Karazai and I have in the past met with Pakistan's President, Zardari, as well as their intelligence officers, their military, their teams and emphasized to Pakistan the fact that our security is intertwined."
He argued that "I think there has been in the past, a view on the part of Pakistan that their primary rival, India, was their only concern. (But) I think, what you've seen over the last several months is a growing recognition that they have a cancer in their midst--that the extremist organizations that have been allowed to congregate and use as a base the frontier areas to then go into Afghanistan, that that now threatens Pakistan's sovereignty."
Obama asserted that "our goal is to break down some of the old suspicions and the old bad habits and continue to work with the Pakistani government to see their interests in a stable Afghanistan, which is free from foreign meddling and that Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States, the international community, should all be working to reduce their influence of extremists in these regions."
"And, I am actually encouraged by what I've seen from the Pakistani government over the last several months," he said.
But, Obama predicted that "just as its 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 for Pakistan--even where 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."
However, he reiterated that "part of what I have been encouraged by is Pakistan's willingness to start asserting more control over some of these areas. But it is not going to happen overnight. And, they have been taking enormous casualties."
Noting that the "Pakistani military has been going in fairly aggressively," Obama continued to make the case that "this will be a ongoing project and President Karzai and I both discussed the fact that the only way ultimately that Pakistan is secure is if Afghanistan is secure."
"And, the only way that Afghanistan is secure is if the sovereignty, the territorial integrity, the Afghan constitution, the Afghan people are respected by their neighbors."
Obama assured that "We think that that message is starting to get through, but it's one that we have to continue to promote."
Image:President Obama looks on as Afghan President Karzai speaks during a joint news conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington. | Photograph: Jim Young/Reuters
