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| Afghan plan to include exit strategy: White House |
| Press Trust of India / Washington Nov 13, 2009, 13:47 IST |
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Maintaining that the US cannot be expected to be inside Afghanistan forever, the White House today said the Afghan plan, likely to be announced by President Barack Obama, would include an exit strategy.
"The President believes that we have been there for eight years, and we're not going to be there forever. And it's important to fully examine not just how we're going to get folks in but how we are going to get folks out," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters abroad Air Force One travelling with Obama on his way to Alaska.
Gibbs said the US Embassy in Kabul is working on agreements with the Afghan government. "I think it's sufficient to say that whether on the civilian side of our effort, whether on the military side of our effort, or on the governance side of the Afghans, the President has asked for and will want benchmarks to evaluate our progress. That's part of his desire to get a sense of where we are rather than committing to an open-ended conflict," he said. Some of these benchmarks, he said, was discussed at the Wednesday's Situation Room meeting of Obama with his close aides on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The White House spokesman said the US Administration has been talking with the Afghan government for quite some time, including throughout the election process, about how to establish better governance. "You heard the President in the Oval Office talk about ensuring strengthened governance and that we had to address corruption," Gibbs said.
Since mid-August, the US President has held as many as eight Situation Room meetings – all on Afghanistan and Pakistan – and most of them lasting for more than three hours at a stretch. "We have made tremendous progress. I think we are closer to getting a decision after that meeting than we were going into it, because we worked through -- the President and the team worked through a number of issues in making that final decision," Gibbs said.
"I think we are making progress. I think the President gets closer and closer every day. I will say all the participants involved would tell you that we have examined issues that will make the President's decision better and give, I hope, the American people confidence when the President explains why he made his decision and what factors went into it, that they'll have confidence in the mission," he said.
No announcement about an Afghanistan strategy is planned before the president returns at the end of next week. "He will continue consultations and questions about this throughout the trip," Gibbs said.
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