Obama's Afghan visit reasserts regional stability
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The U.S. President Barack Obama landed in Afghanistan to streamline various issues and to reassert regional stability particularly among neighboring Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, a Pakistani expert said Wednesday.
"Obama has praised Pakistan a lot and the relations are improving," Defense and Security Analyst Major General (retired) Jamshed Ayaz told Xinhua, saying that the United States is encouraging India to focus on its economic activities in Afghanistan and letting Pakistan do the political and security matters.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that President Obama is devoting considerable time to U.S. relations with Pakistan, Afghanistan and India in order to see the security strengthened and mutual goals advanced in the vitally important region.
"Obama is in Afghanistan to show democrats that they are improving in the war against terrorism," said General Jamshed Ayaz while commenting on Obama's surprise visit to Afghanistan on Sunday.
"It's a make and break issue for the democrats," said Jamshed Ayaz, referring to the U.S. Congress elections in November this year.
He said the agenda of Obama's Afghanistan trip seemed to be three-pronged. Besides bolstering the morale of the U.S. troops, President Obama focused on emphasizing on the Afghan government the need to address certain key issues including corruption, governance and poppy cultivation. Obama also briefed the Afghan president on the strategic dialogue between the U.S. and Pakistan, which has concluded recently in Washington.
Obama, who has visited Afghanistan on his first ever trip to the country as President, had ordered 30,000 fresh troops beefing up an already stationed 68,000 American strength, which is part of an over 120,000 NATO troops fighting against the extremist Taliban. He visited Afghanistan as a senator and presidential candidate in 2008.
Incidentally, the U.S. president arrived in Afghanistan, just a couple of weeks after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad toured the war-torn country. The Iranian president accused the U.S. troops of creating further complications in the region and asked for withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
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