New Delhi
1 December 2009
The United States President Barack Obama called up Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and other world leaders on Tuesday, ahead of unveiling his new Af-Pak policy.
Obama, in his speech Wednesday (India time), is expected to announce deployment of
more American troops to fight Taliban and Al Qaeda and dwell on his expectations from
Pakistan. He is also likely to focus on the training of Afghan national security forces and
seek international cooperation for it, amid indications from New Delhi that it will be
content to continue with its development assistance programme in Afghanistan.
The Prime Minister's Office said that in a brief conversation, the two leaders discussed
the situation in Afghanistan and the further steps that could be taken to bring peace and
stability in the country.
"[They] also discussed the forthcoming summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen. The
Prime Minister told the President that India would play a constructive role in the
negotiations and looked forward to a successful outcome," it added.
Obama's Af-Pak policy is not without its critics in India, where his reluctance to call
Pakistan's bluff is seen as misplaced priority. Already, White House Spokesman Robert
Gibbs has told reporters in Washington that a key element of Obama's new strategy will
be diplomatic engagement with Pakistan to jointly address violent extremism.
"I think you can anticipate that a good portion of the President's speech [would] discuss
our relationship with Pakistan and touch on going back to the very beginning of this
administration in a renewed engagement diplomatically with the Pakistanis to jointly
address violent extremism," Gibbs said, giving a brief preview of Obama's new Af-Pak
policy.
On Tuesday, Obama held a videoconference with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai,
too. Obama was expected to talk to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Chinese
President Hu Jintao, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Polish Prime Minister
Donald Tusk, among other world leaders. He has already spoken to French President
Nicolas Sarkozy and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on his Af-Pak
policy.
Obama's call to Dr Singh came close on the heels of their meeting in Washington during
which the Afghan issue was discussed prominently. Prime Minister Singh had said in
that meeting that it was important for all major regional and international players to put
their weight behind the Afghan government. For his part, Obama had highlighted the
importance of tackling violence and extremism emanating from the region "in a serious
way".
India feels that due to the continued threat posed by terrorism emanating from
Afghanistan, the world community should stay engaged there and not think about "pre-
mature exit" as it could embolden terrorists. Prime Minister Singh is of the view that
India and the US needed to do more
in cooperation on counter-terrorism.
"I sincerely hope that the world community will have the wisdom to stay engaged in that
process and premature talk of exit would only embolden the terrorist elements who are
out to destabilise not only our part of the world but civilised world everywhere," Dr Singh
said in Washington.
Though Obama and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France have suggested Dr Singh to
attend the Copenhagen Summit starting on December 7, Dr Singh is yet to take a call on
it.
Ahead of the crucial meet, India has said that she was willing to take greater steps to
tackle the challenge posed by global warming provided there was a more supportive
global regime. India has also made it clear that she was not in a position to take legally
binding emission cuts but has already embarked on an enhanced energy efficiency
mission which could reduce the carbon intensity of its rapid growth.
In his intervention at the recently concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting (CHOGM) in Port of Spain, capital of the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and
Tobago, Dr Singh spoke of the need for a "balanced and comprehensive outcome" at
Copenhagen based on equitable burden-sharing.
No comments:
Post a Comment