WASHINGTON: US Presi­dent Barack Obama has said that the United States cannot eliminate the Taliban or end violence in Afghanistan but it has built a counterterrorism capability to deal with any terrorist network in South Asia.

The speech, delivered on Tuesday afternoon at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida, sums up the Obama administration’s contribution to the fight against terrorism, focusing particularly on his decisions to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama said while his policies had weakened the extremists in Afghanistan, he did not want to paint too rosy a picture.

“The situation in Afghanistan is still tough. War has been a part of life in Afghanistan for over 30 years, and the United States cannot eliminate the Taliban or end violence in that country,” he warned.

But he also warned against downplaying US achievements in the war against terrorists. “We have built a counterterrorism capability that can sustain this pressure against any terrorist network in South Asia that might threaten the United States of America,” he said.

He claimed his policies had helped bring normalcy to Afghanistan where Afghan girls were now going to school and people were getting health care, electricity and education. The US president, however, said that these achievements did not mean the war against terrorism had been won.

“What we can do is deny Al Qaeda a safe haven, and what we can do is support Afghans who want a better future, which is why we have worked not only with their military, but we’ve backed a unity government in Kabul,” he said.

Published in Dawn December 8th, 2016