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| Clinton: Taliban under ‘tremendous pressure’ |
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| WASHINGTON (Agencies): The Taliban is under “tremendous pressure” in Afghanistan, where US forces have stepped up their war as Washington touts a new strategy to root out extremism, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday.
“The Taliban, which is, as I believe strongly, part of a kind of terrorist syndicate with Al-Qaeda at the center, is now under tremendous pressure, and I think that’s in America’s national interest,” Clinton said on the NBC show “Meet the Press.”
In addition to boosting the US military presence in the war-ravaged nation, Clinton said that, “importantly, we’ve seen the Pakistani government and military really step up, which had not happened to the extent it has now.”
Clinton cited the “permeable” border between Pakistan and Afghanistan as facilitating the clandestine movements of extremist cells in the region where Washington and its allies believe Al-Qaeda operates terrorism training camps.
The top US diplomat said that six months into the administration of President Barack Obama, and after a comprehensive review of US strategy in Afghanistan, Washington determined that “in order to really go after Al-Qaeda to uproot it and to destroy it, we had to take on those who were giving the Al-Qaeda leadership safe haven.”
Describing the approach as a “new strategy,” Clinton said that in order for US military intervention to be effective, they have committed to helping empower local Afghan communities to defend themselves once the areas were cleared of extremists. “It’s just beginning. I think the president believes that it was not only the right strategy, but facing what he faced, to withdraw our presence or to keep it on the low-level, limited effectiveness that had been demonstrated would have sent a message to Al-Qaeda and their allies that the United States was willing to leave the field to them.”
Taliban-linked violence has risen dramatically this year in Afghanistan. A wave of attacks across the country over the weekend killed 22 people including insurgents, a foreign soldier and two Afghan troops.
Clashes and attacks have surged this month ahead of presidential elections in August, with NATO-led offensives in the south leading to record foreign military casualties and the Taliban insurgency at its fiercest since the 2001 US-led invasion toppled their government. On Sunday a running mate of President Hamid Karzai escaped unscathed after a gun and rocket attack hit his convoy in northern Afghanistan.
Dozens of vehicles accompanying vice-presidential candidate Mohammed Qasim Fahim were driving through Kunduz province, which has seen soaring Taliban-linked attacks, when gunmen ambushed the convoy. |
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