Obama sets al-Qaida defeat as top goal

President Barack Obama on Friday ordered 4,000 more US military troops into Afghanistan, vowing to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" the Taliban and al-Qaida.

In a war that still has no end in sight, Obama said the fresh infusion of US forces is designed to bolster the Afghan army and turn up the heat on terrorists that he said are plotting new attacks against the Americans.

Obama called the situation in the region "increasingly perilous" more than seven years after the Taliban was removed from power in Afghanistan.

"If the Afghanistan government falls to the Taliban or allows al-Qaida to go unchallenged," Obama said, "that country will again be a base for terrorists."

He announced the deployment, as well as plans to send hundreds of additional civilians to Afghanistan, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and top officials at his side. The announcement followed a policy review Obama launched not long after taking office Jan 20.

The 4,000 troops come not long after the new administration approved the dispatch of an additional 17,000 forces to the war-weary nation.

There are clear risks and costs to Obama's strategy.

Violence is rising. The war in Afghanistan saw American military deaths rise by 35 percent in 2008 as Islamic extremists shifted their focus to a new front with the West. Obama's plan will also cost many more billions of dollars.

Obama's plan includes no timeline for withdrawal of US troops. Yet Obama warned that the al-Qaida terrorists who masterminded the Sept 11, 2001 attacks were actively planning further attacks on the US from safe havens in Pakistan.

"So I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future," the president said.

"That is the goal that must be achieved," Obama added.

He said Pakistan and Afghanistan will be held to account, using benchmarks for progress.

AP

(China Daily 03/28/2009 page11)