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| US wants to reduce Indo-Pak tensions: Obama |
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday took note of the historic animosity between Pakistan and India and signaled the United States wanted to find ways to reduce tensions between the two countries.
“We want to be encouraging of ways in which both India and Pakistan can be secure and focus on development, Obama said while speaking at a joint news conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The US president said he believed Pakistan was making progress in fighting extremism as he tried to assuage India’s concerns about its historic rival.
“Pakistan has an enormously important role in the security of the region by making sure that the extremist organisations that often operate out of its territories are dealt with effectively,” Obama said. “And we’ve seen some progress,” he said.
Obama pointed to Pakistan’s offensive against the Taliban insurgents in the Swat Valley and South Waziristan as a sign of progress. The operation “indicates the degree to which they are beginning to recognise that extremism, even if initially directed to the outside, can ultimately also have an adverse impact on their security internally,” Obama said.
Earlier, Obama rolled out the red carpet for Manmohan Singh for the first full-fledged state visit of his White House, to climax in a swank black-tie dinner set to be one of Washington’s most elite social occasions since his January 20 inauguration.
Obama hailed India as indispensable” as he welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the White House on the first state visit of his presidency.
“This visit reflects the high esteem in which I and the American people hold your wise leadership,” Obama told the leader of the world’s largest democracy after the anthems of both nations were played at the welcome ceremony.
“One of the things I admire most about Prime Minister Singh is that, I think, at his core he is a man of peace,” Obama said.
He said: “Today our nations are two global leaders, driven, not to dominate other nations, but to build a future of security and prosperity for all nations. Mr Prime Minister, as we work to build that future, India is indispensable.”
Singh said: “We seek to broaden and deepen our strategic partnership and to work with the United States to meet the challenges of a fast-changing world in this 21st century.”
“We should cooperate in addressing global challenges of combatting terrorism, making our environment cleaner and moving towards a world free of nuclear weapons.”
Obama acknowledged similarities the two powers share: their struggles to break free from empires and declare their independence, emerging on the other side as champions of democracy.
“As leading economies, the United States and India can strengthen the global economic recovery, promote trade that creates jobs for both our people and pursue growth that is balanced and sustained,” Obama said.
“As nuclear powers, we can be full partners in preventing the spread of the world’s most deadly weapons, securing loose nuclear materials from terrorists, and pursuing our shared vision of a world without nuclear weapons,” he said.
Meanwhile, Obama said he will announce a new US strategy for Afghanistan soon and that his intention will be to have a plan to “finish the job” there after eight years of war.
“I will be making an announcement to the American people about how we intend to move forward. I will be doing so shortly,” he said. Noting that the Afghanistan war has been going on for eight years, Obama said: “It is my intention to finish the job” there.
Under pressure from Democrats and many Americans to find away out of Afghanistan, Obama said it is going to be important to recognise that the Afghan people “are ultimately going to have to provide for their own security.”
He said he will discuss in his strategy a clear rationale for what the United States is doing in Afghanistan and will say how the Afghan security forces can be trained and equipped.
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