WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has said the United States has no long-term designs on Afghanistan as his administration switches focus to the war-torn country with its pullout from Iraq.

The US president made it clear that he was aware of the sentiments of the Afghan people, who have fiercely resisted foreign invaders, from the British to the Soviets.

“One of the things that I think we have to communicate in Afghanistan is that we have no interest or aspiration to be there over the long term,” President Obama said in an interview with PBS public television.

“There’s a long history, as you know, in Afghanistan of rebuffing what is seen as an occupying force and we have to be mindful of that history as we think about our strategy,” he said.

However, Mr Obama declined to set a timeline on when American troops would leave Afghanistan.

“Until we have a clear strategy, we’re not going to have a clear exit strategy,” he said. —AFP
Tags: