Afghan President Hamid Karai and US President Barack Obama discussed the new US policy for Afghanistan during an hour-long videoconference call yesterday morning, a spokesman for the presidential palace said.
The videoconference came ahead of Obama’s planned speech last night at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he will outline a new US war plan, including the dispatch between 30,000 and 35,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
Karzai’s office said the two leaders discussed in detail the security, political, military and economic aspects of the strategy.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The call was one of several Obama was making to world leaders, including Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. He began rolling out his decision on Sunday night, informing key administration officials, military advisers and foreign allies in a series of private meetings and telephone calls.
Obama’s war escalation includes sending more US forces into Afghanistan in a graduated deployment over the next year. They will join the 71,000 US troops already on the ground. Obama’s new war strategy also includes renewed focus on training Afghan forces to take over the fight and allow the Americans to leave.
Obama was also expected to explain why he believes the US must continue to fight more than eight years after the war was started following the Sept. 11 attacks by al-Qaeda terrorists based in Afghanistan.
This has been the deadliest year of the conflict for US forces, with nearly 300 killed. Casualties started climbing soon after Obama decided to deploy an additional 21,000 US troops as part of his plan to refocus on the Afghan war.
NATO forces have also posted a higher death toll this year than in any previous year, with more than 500 killed.
Obama will emphasize that Afghan security forces need more time, more schooling and more US combat backup to be up to the job on their own, and he will make tougher demands on the governments of Pakistan as well as Afghanistan.
In Kabul, some Afghans said they were worried that the troop increase was too much like an occupation — a scenario particularly worrisome to Afghans who still remember living through an oppressive Soviet regime.
“Afghans do not like any interference of foreigners into their affairs, especially in military affairs,” said Bershna Nadery, who works for the Afghan Finance Ministry.
Nadery said she was worried that more troops would make life more dangerous for Afghans.
“When they increase the troops, the Taliban will respond by increasing their attacks on the foreigners. But that will not only be against the foreigners, it will be against Afghan civilians who live in the same area,” Nadery said.
Obama faces stiff opposition in the US Congress, where lawmakers control spending for the war effort and many fellow Democrats oppose expanding or even continuing the conflict. This displeasure was likely to be on display when hearings on Obama’s strategy get under way later in the week.
Comments on Monday by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs indicated that Obama would be forward looking in his speech before an audience of cadets, many of whom will soon be headed to fight in Afghanistan.
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