US president also reiterates policy to ‘continue to strengthen our strategic and economic partnership with India’
Unveiling a new National Security Strategy for his administration’s final two years, President Barack Obama Friday pledged to work cooperatively with Pakistan towards South Asian strategic stability vis-à-vis India and Afghan reconciliation and peace.
In the broader global perspective, Obama said the US should not attempt to dictate the trajectory of all unfolding events and resist the overreach abroad when decisions are based on fears.
Obama also adhered to the White House policy to reject the notion that the US is at war with Islam, and stressed that his administration is fighting both the ISIS and al Qaeda terrorism.
“In all our efforts, we aim to draw a stark contrast between what we stand for and the heinous deeds of terrorists. We reject the lie that America and its allies are at war with Islam.”
Focusing on South Asia, Obama said: “We will continue to work with both India and Pakistan to promote strategic stability, combat terrorism, and advance regional economic integration in South and Central Asia,” he said in the document delivered to Congress on Friday amid criticism that the Obama White House lacks a coherent security policy in the world confronted with diverse security threats.
Regarding Islamabad’s role towards peace efforts in Afghanistan, Obama said, “We will also work with the countries of the region, including Pakistan, to mitigate the threat from terrorism and to support a viable peace and reconciliation process to end the violence in Afghanistan and improve regional stability.”
The United States, he said, has ended “our combat mission and transitioned to a dramatically smaller force focused on the goal of a sovereign and stable partner in Afghanistan that is not a safe haven for international terrorists”.
The White House strategy also seeks to “work with partners to carry out a limited counterterrorism mission against the remnants of core al Qaeda and maintain our support to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF)”.
Obama also reiterated his administration’s policy to “continue to strengthen our strategic and economic partnership with India”.
“We support India’s role as a regional provider of security and its expanded participation in critical regional institutions.”
About America’s global leadership, the White House strategy stresses that it “does not mean we can or should attempt to dictate the trajectory of all unfolding events around the world. As powerful as we are and will remain, our resources are not infinite.”
“And in a complex world, many of the security problems we face do not lend themselves to quick and easy fixes. . . . We have to make hard choices among many competing priorities, and we must always resist the over-reach that comes when we make decisions based on fear.”
