President Obama vows to reform Afghanistan and exit

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MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Dmitry Kosyrev)

The new U.S. Afghanistan policy has finally become clear, even before the NATO summit in Strasbourg on April 3 and 4 where the U.S. president will brief his NATO allies on his policy.

So here are the keypoints of the new Afghanistan strategy. First of all, it needs to be comprehensive, which means the war should be accompanied by efforts to promote economic and social reform in Afghanistan. For this purpose, hundreds of civil professionals in economic development from the United States will go to that country. America will help Afghanistan build a powerful army and police by sending over 4,000 military advisers, and destroy the "opium-based" economy.

Second, Barack Obama used the term "exit strategy," implying the U.S. troops are going to pull out once the mission is complete. The mission is to destroy Pakistan-based Al Qaeda.

Third, Obama recognized the obvious truth that Pakistan was the key problem, and that he was presenting an "Afghanistan and Pakistan policy," which would require "regional efforts."

It should certainly be admitted that Obama's is a highly logical strategy, based on a realistic assessment of the threats. One could argue about details, but on the whole, it is only too obvious. Afghanistan and the adjacent regions of Pakistan are an anomaly, a lethally ill and poor region, which Al Qaeda and Taliban chose as their home for these very reasons. This situation, in part, had led to the mega-attack on 9/11 in New York.

If this place is not turned into a normal state with normal society, this war currently led by the United States will be futile: once it is terminated, the situation will be reversed. So on the whole, what Obama says is perfectly correct.

It is not accidental that the new strategy will be presented at Obama's first major event, such as a NATO summit. It is clear that the United States expects its NATO partners to support its policy in Afganistan and Pakistan, including greater military contingents, financing and other kinds of assistance.

But the negotiations will be long and difficult. Other countries' assistance would be welcome, too, and even indispensible, such as Iran, India (which are now too busy in the runup to elections), Russia, Central Asian countries and others. This, in fact is what Obama's "regional" policy implies. So the U.S. government decided to begin with demonstrating "leadership" in Afghanistan. The message is very clear: The United States will fight and conduct reforms in any case, while others are being invited to help.

This is a very harsh approach, reminiscent of George W. Bush's unilateral actions, but it is psychologically correct. Obama has long been doomed to pay for Bush's Afghan blunders and for others' lack of haste to remedy those blunders.

However, if Obama eventually succeeds in building some sort of "Afghan partnership" including many different countries, this policy will benefit everyone - the United States, Afghanistan and other countries as well.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

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