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July 19, 2008
Obama's Plan for
Afghanistan Draws Worries
Ahead of Visit
By Jawad
Peikar
Kabul
Ahead of Senator Barack Obama's expected visit to Afghanistan, the
US presidential hopeful's plans to increase US troops in the country
was being met with both hope and skepticism from Afghans.
"Increasing troops doesn't help Afghanistan at all," warned Kabeer
Ranjbar, a member of the lower house of the Afghan National
Assembly. "Afghanistan's governmental institutions need to be
reformed. The problem is the Afghanistan government itself."
"Afghanistan government needs to gain people's support," he said.
"If the government doesn't have people's support, increasing of
forces doesn't help Afghanistan."
Obama's campaign has said its candidate, who is to face Republican
Senator John McCain in November's election, would travel to
Afghanistan and Iraq this summer. Because of security concerns, it
has not given the dates for such a trip, but it was widely expected
that Obama would pay those visits during his trip next week to
Europe and the Middle East as the senator, who is serving his first
term, faces criticism from McCain about a lack of foreign policy
experience.
To burnish his image on international affairs, Obama gave a speech
Tuesday in Washington in which he said the US must broaden its
foreign policy focus beyond Iraq as he pledged to end the war there
and focus on fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan and Al Qaeda
militants hiding in the mountains in Pakistan.
"As president, I would pursue a new strategy and begin by providing
at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in
Afghanistan," Obama said in a foreign policy push this week. "We
need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering,
and more non-military assistance to accomplish the mission there."
Wahid Mujda, an Afghan political analyst, warned, however, that
Obama's planned increase in US troops by about 10,000 would make the
situation worse.
"Increasing troops shows that the US emphasis is on war," Mujda
said. "It means the US wants to solve Afghanistan's problems through
military forces, which is not a sound strategy."
"More troops shows that war will continue," he added. "It means more
people will be killed. It means both parties who are involved in the
war would have more casualties."
People on the streets of Kabul also worried about a continuing
conflict although they admitted they knew little about Obama or his
strategy for their country.
"I don't know who Obama is," admitted shopkeeper Saleh Mohammed, 27.
"I just want the person who becomes president of the US to feel
sympathy for Afghanistan and bring peace for us."
Other Kabul residents expressed hope that the next US president
would address threats coming from neighbouring Pakistan, whose
mountains militants have been using as a refuge and a launch pad for
attacks in Afghanistan that have killed Afghan soldiers,
international forces and Afghan civilians.
"I ask him to stop Pakistan from killing innocent women, children
and people of Afghanistan," taxi driver Mohammed Aslam, 48, said.
"I think he [Obama] knows that Pakistan is the main problem in the
region," said Najeenullah, 23, a fruit cart vendor.
Obama's expected visit to Afghanistan was coming at a time of
increasing tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, skyrocketing
civilian casualties from airstrikes by the NATO-led International
Security Assistance Force and rising attacks from insurgents.
The Taliban has launched a major offensive in recent weeks,
including a rash of suicide bombings that have left scores of people
dead. More than three dozen people died in the July 7 bombing of the
Indian embassy in Kabul.
At least 71 Afghan civilians have died in three airstrikes by
international forces this month in Afghanistan, bringing the
civilian toll in the overall conflict this year to around 700,
according to a recent UN survey.
US casualties were also rising. The Taliban attacked a remote US
military outpost near the border with Pakistan Sunday, killing nine
American soldiers in the deadliest attack on US forces in
Afghanistan in three years.
The US casualty rate in Afghanistan has began to equal or even
exceed the rate in Iraq as President George W. Bush's troop surge
has largely succeeding in sharply bringing down violence in the
country.
"We won't have sufficient resources to finish the job in Afghanistan
until we reduce our commitment to Iraq," Obama wrote this week in an
article published by The New York Times.
DPA
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July 19, 2008
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