ID :
27943
Sat, 11/01/2008 - 22:30
Auther :

Biggest threat to Pak not India but militants: Obama

Washington, Nov 1 (PTI) Voicing concern over the stability of the "fledgling" government in Islamabad, Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama has said Pakistan needs to be convinced that its "biggest threat" is not India but militants within its own borders.

"Now you've got a fledgling democratic government (in Pakistan). We have to support their efforts to democratise. That means, by the way, not just providing military aid, it means helping them to provide concrete solutions to the poverty and lack of education that exists in Pakistan. So I want to increase non-military aid to Pakistan," he told CNN.

"But we also have to help make the case that the biggest threat to Pakistan right now is not India which has been their historical enemy, it is actually militants within their own borders. And if we can get them to refocus on that, then that is going to be critical to our success not just in stabilising Pakistan but also in finishing the job in Afghanistan."

Asked how worried he was about the stability of Pakistani
government as it seemed al-Qaeda was going after the new leadership post-Pervez Musharraf, Obama said: "Well, I am concerned about it."

"This was one of the problems with our previous strategy where there was a lot of resentment that built up as a consequence of our support of President Musharraf there who had squelched democracy," he said in an interview to CNN's Situation Room.

About Afghanistan, Obama said "we're still going to have
expenditures" there "because we need to hunt down (Osama) bin Laden and al-Qaeda and put them finally out of business."

During the wide-ranging interview, he spoke both about foreign and domestic policy challenges and priorities but gave the impression that his focus, if elected in the November 4 polls, would be in addressing the economic woes and the mess America finds itself in.

Asked to list the priorities under his administration,
Obama replied that it may be continuing to stabilise the
financial system.


"We don't know yet what's going to happen in January. And
none of this can be accomplished if we continue to see a
potential meltdown in the banking system or the financial
system. So that's priority number one, making sure that the
plumbing works in our capitalist system," he said.

Priority number two, Obama said, has to be energy
independence. "We have to seize this moment because it is not
just an energy independence issue, it is also a national
security issue and it is a jobs issue. And we can create five
million new green energy jobs with a serious programme."

"Priority number three would be health care reform. I
think the time is right to do it. Priority number four is
making sure that we have tax cuts for the middle class and
part of a broader tax reform effort. Priority number five
I think would be making sure that we have an education system
that works for our children," Senator Obama said.

The Illinois Democrat also made the point that winding
up the war in Iraq could result in some substantial savings
but this is not going to come about immediately.

"The war in Iraq, we can achieve some significant
savings. It's not going to come immediately. I've said I want
a responsible drawdown. We're still going to have to refit our
military. We're still going to have to deal with rising
veterans' costs," he said making the point that the monthly
savings of about USD 12 billion is not going to become a
saving straightaway.

"... My hope is that we draw down that money over time,
it's drastically reduced. But the point is that we're not
going to be able to take that USD 12 billion and suddenly
automatically apply it all to domestic stuff. We've got to
take care of our troops... ," he said. PTI

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