Stable Pak in US interest: Obama

Recognising the need to address challenges in US-Pakistan relationship, President Barack Obama has underlined that a democratic and stable Pakistan would be in America’s interests. Obama, who had a brief meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari on the sidelines of the NATO summit, told a news conference that “diligent” progress was being made on the issue of ending Pakistani blockade of NATO supply routes into Afghanistan. Islamabad shut down the supply route soon after November 26, 2011 war plane attacks on Pakistani border posts that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
“President Zardari shared with me his belief that these issues can get worked through. We didn’t anticipate that the supply line issue was going to be resolved by this summit. We knew that before we arrived in Chicago. But we’re actually making diligent progress on it,” Obama said. The two-day NATO – ISAF partners summit in Obama’s hometown deliberated on international support for conflict-hit Afghanistan after the international forces complete a drawdown by 2014. “We think that Pakistan has to be part of the solution in Afghanistan, that it is in our national interest to see a Pakistan that is democratic, that is prosperous and that is stable, that we share a common enemy in the extremists that are found not only in Afghanistan, but also within Pakistan and that we need to work through some of the tensions that have inevitably arisen after 10 years of our military presence in that region,” the US president remarked.
Obama noted, “ultimately everybody in the alliance, all of ISAF, and most importantly the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan understand that neither country is going to have the kind of security, stability, and prosperity that it needs unless they can resolve some of these outstanding issues and join in common purpose with the international community in making sure that these regions are not harboring extremists.”
“So I don’t want to paper over real challenges there. There is no doubt that there have been tensions between ISAF and Pakistan, the United States and Pakistan over the last several months. I think they are being worked through both military and diplomatic channels,” he said.
“But ultimately, it is in our interest to see a successful, stable Pakistan and it is in Pakistan’s interest to work with us and the world community to ensure that they themselves are not consumed by extremism that is in their midst. And so we’re going to keep on going at this. And I think every NATO member, every ISAF member is committed to that,” he added.