Obama promises more aid to Pakistan

WASHINGTON: As President Barack Obama prepares to announce a new blueprint for the war in Afghanistan, the leading Senate Democrat on military matters says any plan to significantly expand US troop levels must show how those reinforcements will help increase the number of Afghan security forces.

The remarks from Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, are a preview of the possible roadblocks Obama faces from his own party as he begins to sell a broader, more expensive battle plan for Afghanistan to an American public weary of the conflict.

Greater numbers of Afghan army and police are central to succeeding in the 8-year-old war, according to Levin, and more US trainers and an infusion of battlefield gear will help meet that goal. But it’s unclear, Levin said, what role tens of thousands of additional US combat troops will play in that buildup, and Obama has to make a compelling case during a national address he’s scheduled to give Tuesday night from the US Military Academy at West Point, New York.

‘The key here is an Afghan surge, not an American surge,’ Levin said on CBS television Sunday. ‘We cannot, by ourselves, win (the) war.’

Another facet of Obama’s plan appears to be an expanded partnership with Pakistan as part of US pressure on that country’s shaky government to do more to root out extremists based along Pakistan’s borders with Afghanistan.

The Washington Post reported Monday that Obama had sent a letter to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari saying the US planned no early withdrawal from Afghanistan and will increase its military and economic cooperation with Pakistan. The Post, quoting unidentified administration officials, said Obama called for closer collaboration against extremist groups, including five named in the letter.

The letter, delivered by national security adviser James Jones, included a blunt warning that the US would not tolerate support within Pakistan’s military and intelligence operations of extremists fighting in Afghanistan.

At West Point, Obama is expected to announce an increase of up to 35,000 more US forces to defeat the Taliban-led insurgency and stabilize a weak Afghan government. The escalation, which would take place over the next year, would put more than 100,000 American troops in Afghanistan at an annual cost of about $75 billion.

Obama is also expected to outline an exit strategy for the war.

Democrats concerned over the price tag have proposed a war tax to pay for operations. Democratic Rep. David Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has introduced legislation to impose a war surtax beginning in 2011. The bill would exempt service members and their families.

‘If this war is important enough to engage in the long term, it’s important enough to pay for,’ Obey said on CNN Sunday.

Lawmakers also want a greater commitment from Nato allies so the US isn’t footing the bill on its own.

‘I’ve got a real problem about expanding this war where the rest of the world is sitting around and saying, ‘Isn’t it a nice thing that the taxpayers of the United States and the US military are doing the work that the rest of the world should be doing?’’ Sen. Bernie Sanders, an indepedent, told ABS television.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that several allied nations will offer a total of 5,000 more troops. Speaking Saturday at a news conference in Trinidad, Brown also said Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government must meet specific benchmarks that allow foreign troops to gradually hand over control of the fighting to local forces.

Sen. Richard Lugar, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said on CNN he was wary of strict benchmarks that put both sides in an untenable situation if they’re not met. But he said an early test of success will be whether Afghan forces can hold onto southern parts of the country after the US-led coalition succeeds in chasing out the Taliban.

Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, wants an overall Afghan security force of 400,000 — 240,000 soldiers and 160,000 police officers — by October 2013.

Levin has proposed moving that date forward a year to 2012. He says the manpower is available to support the faster timetable.— AP