Obama seeks Congressional support on AfPak strategy

I / Washington October 07, 2009, 10:20 IST

United States' President Barack Obama met key Congressional leaders from both the Republican and Democratic parties in an apparent bid to seek their support on his strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.     

After the 90-minute meeting with Obama at the White House, both Republican and Democrat lawmakers acknowledged that it was a tough decision for Obama to make and appreciated the US President for listening to their views.     

During the meeting, Obama said the war would not be reduced to a counter-terrorism campaign, but gave no indication about his thoughts on the request by the commanders on the ground of needing an additional 40,000 troops in Afghanistan.     

However, as the Republican and Democrats leaders emerged from the meeting and briefed the press thereafter, it appeared that there was no change in their respective party's stand on the new policy.

Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House of Representatives) and Harry Reid (Senate Majority Leader) said there was unanimity among the Congressional leaders in supporting the decision taken by Obama on this issue.     

Pelosi noted that agreements apart, there were some diverse opinions mooted, too, among the law makers.     

"It wasn't a question of difference of opinion, it was question of having different evaluations of the strength of the tools at our disposal as the President goes forward, and again, as Congress plays its rightful role in all of this," she said.     

"There are questions to be answered...that the President put forth and General (Steanley) McChrystal (US and NATO Commander in Afghanistan) said in this report: 'Without a strategy, we shouldn’t resource the mission'. We need to evaluate the tools at our disposal," Pelosi said giving a sense of the issues discussed at the meeting.     

Noting that Afghanistan-Pakistan border is the "single most active terrorist haven" in the world, Reid said it is vital to the US national security that the new strategy is set in right.     

At a separate press conference Republican leader, Congressman, John A Boehner, said, "I don't believe the President needs to make a decision in haste, but we need to get this right and I'm hopeful that the President will make a strong decision that will allow us to win this effort that was started many years ago."     

Republican Senator Mitch McConnell hoped that Obama will follow the advice of the US generals on the ground who, according to him, knows what it would take to stabilise the situation in Afghanistan, prevent the comeback of the Taliban, and obviously prevent a haven for Al Qaida.