Obama administration seeks to reassure Pakistan and Afghanistan over Taliban

The Barack ObamaBarack Obama administration has sought to reassure the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan that its review of strategy in the region did not mean it was considering abandoning the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda

By Alex Spillius in Washington
Published: 7:38AM BST 06 Oct 2009

Obama: Mr Obama, who will hold a third meeting on Afghan strategy with principal advisers later this week, is on the spot after Gen Stanley McChrystal, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, presented a grim assessment of the war. Photo: REUTERS

Forced on the defensive, both the White House and Robert GatesRobert Gates, the Defence Secretary, felt obliged to reiterate publicly the administration’s long-term commitment.

Shah Mehmood QureshiShah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s foreign minister, has been among those who have observed that the lengthy deliberations in the White House could send a signal of weakness.

The perception that Joe BidenJoe Biden, the US vice-president, is keen on reducing US troop numbers and reverting to a narrow military mission focused on al-Qaeda has added to the impression that President Barack Obama and his advisers are wavering in their enthusiasm for the mission, which is already in its eighth year.

Mr Gates, speaking in Washington, said of the strategic review: "We are not leaving Afghanistan. This discussion is about next steps forward and the president has some momentous decisions to make.

“If it makes them [US allies] nervous that we are talking about it, then frankly that’s a transitory problem.”

Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said: "I don't think we have the option to leave. That's quite clear."

Mr Obama, who will hold a third meeting on Afghan strategy with principal advisers later this week, is on the spot after Gen Stanley McChrystal, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, presented a grim assessment of the war. The commander also asked for 40,000 extra US troops to implement properly a counter-insurgency strategy.

Eight American soldiers were killed on Saturday when tribal militia stormed two combat outposts in eastern Afghanistan, the worst American loss in more than a year.

Sources close to the administration have said the White House was annoyed by Gen McChrystal lobbying for more troops at a speech in London last week. After Gen Jim JonesJim Jones, the national security adviser, said such views should be “passed up the chain of command”, Mr Gates added that military advisers should speak "candidly but privately."

He however defended Gen McChrystal calling him "exactly the right person" to command the war effort.

Mr Gates suggested that the failure of the United States and its allies to put more troops into Afghanistan in earlier years, when former President George W BushPresident George W Bush shifted resources to invade Iraq, had given the Taliban an edge.

"Because of our inability, and the inability, frankly, of our allies, (for putting) enough troops into Afghanistan, the Taliban do have the momentum right now, it seems," he said at a joint appearance with Hillary ClintonHillary Clinton for a CNN programme at George WashingtonGeorge Washington University.

However, he said the US could not afford to give al Qaeda and the Taliban the propaganda victory of a retreat in Afghanistan, where the mujahideen forced the Soviet Union to withdraw after a decade of bloody warfare