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Karzai Lends Support To U.S. Strategy

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The Washington Post

Published: March 29, 2009

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that he was in "full agreement" with President Obama's strategy for Afghanistan, saying it was "exactly what the Afghan people were hoping for."

After months of tension between the Afghan leader and officials in Washington, especially over civilian casualties caused by Western military forces, Karzai seemed surprised by Obama's prescriptions for Afghanistan's problems, calling his plan "better than we were expecting."
Obama announced the strategy Friday with the hope of reversing the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, where violence has been increasing from Taliban militants who fled the 2001 U.S.-led invasion and have been launching cross-border attacks from sanctuaries in Pakistan. The goal is to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" al-Qaida in the region by increasing civilian and military assistance on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Karzai said he was especially glad that Obama explicitly endorsed two ideas Afghan officials have been stressing for several years: that the fight against Islamist terrorism must focus on militant safe havens in next-door Pakistan and that negotiations with Taliban insurgents are essential to ending the conflict in Afghanistan.

Obama's strategy calls for a major expansion of Afghan security forces and the deployment of 4,000 new U.S. troops to train them. It also proposes a boost in U.S. civilian expert assistance, more economic aid to Pakistan in return for stronger action against Islamist militant groups, and support for the Afghan government
PAKISTAN PRAISES OBAMA'S PLAN

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - In an address to a joint session of Parliament, President Asif Ali Zardari promised Saturday to ease domestic political turmoil and praised the Obama administration's new policy to Pakistan as "positive change."

In a conciliatory gesture to the opposition party, Pakistan Muslim League-N, Zardari said that he would lift the executive rule he had imposed on Punjab province, the most populous province in Pakistan and the one where the opposition party holds the most seats in the legislature.

In phrases that were most likely designed to please Washington, Zardari said that the country needed to "root out extremism and militancy." He welcomed the new package of $7.5 billion for civilian assistance over five years.

The New York Times

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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