By NNN-APP,
Washington : U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has called for forming an alliance with the Pakistani people and supporting the new democratic government.
“What we need to do is to form an alliance with the Pakistani people, saying that we’re willing to significantly increase aid for humanitarian purposes, for schools, for hospitals, for health care. We want to support democratic efforts in Pakistan,” he told CNN.
Obama, who has co-sponsored Biden-Lugar measure in the U.S. Senate on tripling socio-economic assistance for Pakistan over a decade, also underlined that in order to be effective in the fight against Taliban and al-Qaeda, Washington has “got to have a stronger relationship with the Pakistani government—the new Pakistani government.”
“But in exchange, we’ve got to have some firmness about going after al Qaeda and Taliban, because it’s not good for American security, but it’s also not good for Pakistani security.”
The Illinois senator criticized the U.S. administration for relying on Pakistan’s president alone. He said the two countries must move from a purely military alliance to a wide-ranging relationship.
On Tuesday, Obama’s controversial suggestion on U.S. chasing terrorists on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border drew flack from his Republican rival John McCain.