US President Obama Calls for Afghanistan Exit Strategy

US President Obama has called for an exit strategy for the war in Afghanistan. Photo by huffingtonpost.com

US President Barack Obama has said that the US army must have an "exit strategy" in Afghanistan, even as Washington sends more troops to fight Taleban militants.

He was speaking as the White House prepares to unveil a comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan.

"What we're looking for is a comprehensive strategy [for Afghanistan]," Obama told the CBS programme 60 Minutes late Sunday.

"Threre's got to be an exit strategy. There's got to be a sense that this is not a perpetual drift."

Obama said preventing attacks against the US remained its "central mission" in Afghan operations.

His comments come at a low-point in relations between Washington and Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government.

Earlier, Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said US policy would no longer treat the two countries separately.

"In the past, the United States government stove-piped it, they had an Afghan policy and a Pakistan policy. We have to integrate the two and I hope the rest of the world will join us in that effort," he told the BBC.

Obama, who last month ordered the deployment of an additional 17 000 US troops to Afghanistan, acknowledged that military force alone would not be enough to achieve Washington's objectives, which included the defeat of Taleban and al-Qaeda militants.

He said an effective strategy could include building up economic capacity in Afghanistan and improving diplomatic ties with Pakistan and other regional players.

 

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