WASHINGTON, Jan 25: The military option remains key to US President Barack Obama’s strategy for dealing with insurgency in Pakistan and Afghanistan, diplomatic observers in Washington say.

Mr Obama’s special representative for the region, Richard Holbrooke, also emphasised the importance of the military option in his first statement since his appointment on Thursday.

“(We plan) to work closely with General Petraeus, Centcom, Admiral Mullen, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General McKiernan and the command in Afghanistan, to create a more coherent programme,” he said.

Gen David McKiernan is the current chief of the US and international forces in Afghanistan. Gen David Petraeus commands US forces in the greater Middle East region, including Afghanistan, as the chief of the US Central Command while Admiral Mike Mullen is the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The official Voice of America radio, which seeks policy guidelines from the US State Department, noted that Ambassador Holbrooke’s “plan will most likely focus on countering Taliban bases in Pakistan’s tribal regions that are blamed for contributing to a spike in violence on both sides of the border”. On Friday, President Obama chaired the first meeting of his National Security Council on Afghanistan and Pakistan and endorsed the decision to continue drone strikes.

The decision made it obvious that President Obama would like to continue the policies of his predecessor George W. Bush for combating Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

But diplomatic observers also noted that the appointment of a special envoy indicated that the Obama administration wanted to use a combination of diplomacy and military actions. Mr Holbrooke will report directly to President Obama, enabling him to take quick decisions without having to wait for the approval of his senior colleagues at the Pentagon or the State Department.

This will be a marked change from the previous US practice of sending senior generals to the region, particularly to Pakistan, for negotiations on key issues.

The observers noted that this would also have an impact on the domestic politics in Pakistan where the elected government felt ignored when a US general went straight to the GHQ for quick decisions, instead of routing his request through political authorities in Islamabad.

This decision is in line with the new Democratic administration’s publicly expressed desire for strengthening democracy and democratic institutions in Pakistan.

The Obama administration also has committed itself to boosting non-military aid to Pakistan while placing certain conditions on military aid. One of the conditions requires the US secretary of state to certify that the Pakistani military is not interfering in political affairs.

A substantial portion of this aid will be earmarked for financing projects to improve the quality of life in areas vulnerable to Taliban influence.

Although the Americans acknowledge that for implementing such projects in these areas they would need the army’s protection, they still want to involve political authorities.

Ambassador Holbrooke has conceded that doing so will not be easy and that the current US foreign assistance programme in the region is “clearly chaotic” but he did not explain how he intended to change it.

The US media noted on Sunday that Mr Holbrooke’s appointment had drawn praise from officials both in Afghanistan and Pakistan but many remain sceptical about the chances of his success.

The media also noted that Pakistani and Afghan officials had very different views on how to fight terrorism -- which promises complex negotiations for Ambassador Holbrooke.

In Kabul, Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen said he hoped “the new envoy focusses especially on the bases of the terrorists which are outside the border of Afghanistan.”

In Islamabad, Pakistani officials warned that covert US air strikes in Fata had increased public opposition to Pakistan’s participation in the ongoing military operations.

VOA quoted Rustam Shah Mohmand, a former Pakistan ambassador to Afghanistan, as saying that Mr Holbrooke’s “hands are already tied because the decision for the surge (of US troops in Afghanistan) has already been taken. That will mean more exposure of the troops, more attacks and more casualties.”