Obama vows to end war in Iraq, to focus on Afghanistan, Pak

Washington, Jul 15 (PTI) - Vowing to pursue a new military strategy, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama Monday promised to pull out the bulk of U.S. forces from Iraq by mid-2010 so as to focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan, "where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda has a safe haven." "As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan. We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there," hewrote in a stinging opinion piece in the New York Times.

"I would not hold our military, our resources and our foreign policy hostage to a misguided desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq," the 47-year-old Senator from Illonis wrote while describing military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan as "the greatest strategic blunder in the recent history of American foreign policy." Obama, who aspires to be the first black-American president said that ending the war in Iraq was essential to meet America's "broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda has a safe haven." "Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and it never has been," he said while quoting Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to say that the U.S. will not have "sufficient resources to finish the job in Afghanistan until we reduce our commitment to Iraq." Obama said the recent call by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal ofAmerican troops from Iraq presented an enormous opportunity.

MORE PTI AKJ