BRUSSELS: The United States said yesterday it had found an encouraging symmetry of views with its NATO and European Union allies after outlining a strategy review meant to end a stalemate in Afghanistan.
US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke discussed the review with Washington’s NATO and EU allies after President Barack Obama said it would contain an exit strategy and greater emphasis on economic development.
Holbrooke stressed the need for a regional approach to the Afghan problem, including Pakistan, and of stepping up both civilian and military efforts, a NATO spokesman said.
He also underlined the importance of plans for a significant boost in size of the Afghan police force.
“I found a very encouraging symmetry of views between our NATO allies and other troop-contributing countries and the United States,” Holbrooke told reporters after the meeting in Brussels. “They put a heavy emphasis on increasing the police, the size of the police in Afghanistan,” he said.
With violence rising ahead of elections in August, Obama has already committed an extra 17,000 troops to Afghanistan, but on Sunday he said military force alone would not end the war.
“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 in an interview with CBS TV’s “60 Minutes.”
“So 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.”
Holbrooke, who met NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer yesterday before briefing the 26 alliance ambassadors, said the review would be completed “soon.”
He told the BBC in an interview that the priority would be dealing with the situation in tribal regions along the border with Pakistan, which have been a haven for insurgents.
“That is the main message we want to get across. You cannot separate Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said.
He also criticized the previous Bush administration for neglecting Afghanistan and vowed “more troops, more resources, more high-level attention.”
“I can’t promise you a timetable or guaranteed success in an area this difficult,” he said. “But I can guarantee you that this administration is going to do everything it can to succeed in one of the most difficult situations in the world.”
Some analysts say Washington is going to have to engage in dialogue with some Taleban elements, a point Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have conceded this month. However, in Afghanistan, other experts have dismissed that idea.
And Taleban-led insurgents such as the Haqqani network, which has admitted carrying out some of the most deadly attacks on civilians and foreign troops in Afghanistan, dismiss the dialogue proposals as a trick to weaken and divide the insurgents. In an interview with Reuters yesterday, Sirajuddin Haqqani said no Taleban would engage with Washington or Kabul.
The deployment of 17,000 additional US troops, on top of the 38,000 already serving there, is meant to help subdue a resurgent Taleban and stabilize the country.
Other countries have about 30,000 soldiers helping the Kabul government under NATO and US command, but have mostly been reluctant to commit more forces.
Obama said the “destabilizing border” between Afghanistan and Pakistan was a big military challenge. Al-Qaeda and Taleban leaders are believed to be hiding out there using the remote region as a staging ground for attacks in Afghanistan. “This is going to be a tough nut to crack. But it is not acceptable for us to simply sit back and let safe havens of terrorists plan and plot,” he said.
