By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : The US proposes to engage Russia, China and India this year as it tries to bring stability to Afghanistan and Pakistan while it continues its mission to “disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al Qaeda and its safe havens in Pakistan”.
“In 2010, we will build on bilateral discussions with Russia, China, India, and Afghanistan’s neighbours,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday, detailing US civilian strategy for the Af-Pak region
The strategy is detailed in a 39-page report the report, prepared by Special Representative Richard Holbrooke and his staff and signed by Clinton. “Our regional diplomacy is expanding, with a sharpened focus on shifting the calculus of Afghanistan’s neighbours from competition in Afghanistan to cooperation and economic integration,” she said.
The US objectives, Clinton said, “are shared by the people and governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan and by people around the world, from Europe to Australia, from Russia to China to India, and across the Middle East where Muslim countries face a common threat from Al Qaeda.”
Asserting that she had “made it a top priority to elevate the role of diplomacy and development alongside defence in our national security strategy,” Clinton said: “Nowhere is this more urgent than in our efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
Clinton also assured Pakistan and Afghanistan that while its military mission in Afghanistan to “disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al Qaeda and its safe havens in Pakistan” is not open-ended, it was committed to building lasting partnerships with the two countries.
“The challenges in both countries are immense. The Afghan government is under assault from the Taliban and struggling to provide security, jobs, and basic justice to a society devastated by 30 years of war,” Clinton said.
“Across the border, the Pakistani people are victim to regular suicide bombings despite their military’s increasingly determined efforts against extremist elements.”
“And while al-Qaeda’s safe-haven in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area is increasingly disrupted, its senior leaders are still planning attacks against our homeland and our Allies,”she said.
Clinton said as President Barack Obama reiterated during his Dec 1 speech at West Point, “the core US goal remains to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al Qaeda and its safe havens in Pakistan, and to prevent their return to Pakistan or Afghanistan.”
“While our combat mission in Afghanistan is not open-ended, we will remain politically, diplomatically, and economically engaged in Afghanistan and Pakistan for the long-term to protect our enduring interests in the region,” she said.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])