| War on Terror | |
| 28 Jul 2008, NewAgeIslam.Com | |
| Obama: Pakistan's restive areas a 'huge problem' for US and its funding of Mujahideen in Kashmir counterproductive | |
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July 28, 2008 Press Trust Of India Washington, July 28, 2008
Ahead of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's maiden visit to the US, Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama has said that Al-Qaeda's safe haven in the Pakistan's restive northwest is a "huge problem" for the American troops.
At the Unity Convention of minority journalists in Chicago, Senator Obama repeated what top administration officials including senior military officials have been saying persistently -- that "more effective cooperation" is needed from Pakistan to get rid of the safe havens.
"They've (al Qaeda and Taliban) got safe havens there (in Pakistan's tribal areas) that US troops cannot follow -- that is a huge problem," Senator Obama said.
"We're going to need more troops in Afghanistan. But we're also going to need more effective cooperation from the Pakistani government in rooting out these safe havens," the Illinois Senator said.
Obama is expected to meet Gilani tomorrow in which the goings on along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and safe havens inside Pakistan are expected to be discussed. The Democrat Senator has had some tough words for Islamabad since last August on tracking down the al Qaeda and the Taliban stressing that if Washington had actionable intelligence it will strike unilaterally.
"... We've got to get Afghanistan right. If you've got Al-Qaeda, you've got the Taliban in training camps and safe havens just a few miles inside the Pakistan border that can act with impunity, then it is going to be hard for us to stabilise Afghanistan.
"And those folks are in a position then to plot how to kill Americans. We've got to get the Pakistani government involved in a much more significant way than they are right now," he added.
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Pak funding Mujahideen in Kashmir is counterproductive: Obama
Press Trust Of India New York, July 28, 2008
Noting that Pakistan has tolerated or in some cases funded the Mujahideen in Kashmir, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has said such efforts are "counterproductive" for Islamabad.
Ahead of his meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, Obama said historically Pakistan has tolerated or in some cases funded the Mujahideen because they think it's somehow helpful to them in Kashmir which continues to be a "constant instigator" of tension between Islamabad and New Delhi.
"We have to have an honest conservation about how counterproductive that is," Obama said in an interview, published in the Wall Street Journal on Monday.
Asked whether US should play a role in negotiations been Pakistan and India, he said, "use that as an example of how we need to think comprehensively about the region. If one of the central concerns of Pakistan is its security posture towards India, then we need to put that on the table for discussion as we try to solve the problems in Afghanistan".
Asked about the forthcoming talks between Gilani and President George Bush in Washington, Obama said the US must emphasise the importance of closing down terrorist camps.
"It's not just in the interest of Afghan security, or US security, it is in the interest of Pakistani security that we shut down those bases down," he said.
"I know that the new prime minister is coming to Washington. I'll be very interested hearing what he has to say. Obviously, they're a new government. There just getting their sea legs. But I think it's very important that we emphasise to them how serious we take these base camps," he added.
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8:59 AM
Sultan Shahin
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