WASHINGTON / NEW YORK, March 23: US President Barack Obama has said that he wants a clear “exit strategy” from Afghanistan and a diplomatic engagement with Pakistan as his administration prepares to announce its new strategy for the two countries.

Mr Obama’s stress on the need for an exit strategy for US troops from Afghanistan comes as he prepares to pour an extra 17,000 soldiers into the country.

“What we’re looking for is a comprehensive strategy. And there’s got to be an exit strategy. There’s got to be a sense that this is not perpetual drift,” said Mr Obama.

In an interview to CBS 60 Minutes, broadcast on Monday night, Mr Obama also spoke of the need to enhance US engagement with Pakistan. “We may need to improve our diplomatic efforts in Pakistan,” he said.

Mr Obama conceded that there had to be limits to America’s ambitions and commitments in Afghanistan. “What we can’t do is think that just a military approach in Afghanistan is going to be able to solve our problems,” he said.

The US president, who is expected to announce a new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan later this week, seems inclined to use a combination of military means and peace initiatives to end the Afghan conflict.

While his decision to send additional troops shows his desire for an Iraq-like success in Afghanistan, the talk of an exit strategy reflects his pragmatic approach to a war that seems to have no end.

On Sunday, the US ambassador in Kabul signalled a radical new initiative to bring the Taliban into the Afghan political process as part of growing efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution to the war. The proposal would allow the Taliban to establish a political party and put up candidates in the next elections.

Asked what the most difficult decision he has had to make since taking office, Mr Obama said: “I would say that the decision to send more troops into Afghanistan … it’s a weighty decision.” The decision was difficult because it meant sending 17,000 young Americans to a war zone, he added.

“When you end up sitting at your desk, signing a condolence letter to one of the family members of a fallen hero, you’re reminded each and every day at every moment that the decisions you make count,” said Mr Obama.

Mr Obama also redefined the US mission in Afghanistan as uprooting the Al Qaeda network from that country, and not rebuilding Afghanistan as a modern democratic state, as his predecessor George W. Bush used to say.

Asked what that mission should be, Mr Obama said: “Making sure that Al Qaeda cannot attack the US homeland and US interests and our allies. That’s our number one priority.”

The US president also stressed the need for engaging Afghanistan’s neighbours for ending the Afghan conflict.

“We may need to bring a more regional diplomatic approach to bear. We may need to coordinate more effectively with our allies,” he said.

Mr Obama agreed with the interviewer that people in both Afghanistan and Pakistan had begun to believe that the US was another foreign power trying to take over the region.

“I’m very mindful of that. And so is my national security team. So is the Pentagon,” said Mr Obama.

“Afghanistan is not going to be easy in many ways. And this is not my assessment. This is the assessment of commanders on the ground,” he explained.

“Iraq was actually easier than Afghanistan. It’s easier terrain. You’ve got a much better educated population. You don’t have some of the same destabilising border issues that you have between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he added.

President Obama said that the Bush administration’s policies had helped terrorists by encouraging a “constant effective recruitment of Arab fighters and Muslim fighters against US interests all around the world”.

Mr Obama said that if this legacy was allowed to continue it would turn the entire Muslim world against the United States.

“Let’s assume that we didn’t change these practices. How long are we gonna go? Are we gonna just keep on going until you know, the entire Muslim world and Arab world despises us? Do we think that’s really gonna make us safer?” he asked.
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