Pakistan on Friday welcomed US President Barack Obamas new strategy in Afghanistan and promised to play "an active, constructive role" in it. "I think the new Obama administrations approach is a very positive approach. They are looking towards a regional approach to the situation," Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, told Reuters in an interview in Moscow.
"Pakistan is willing to play an active, constructive role in this because we feel our peace and security is linked to Afghanistans ... there is spill-over," he said, shortly before Obama unveiled a new strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In his speech in Washington, Obama said the situation in Afghanistan was "increasingly perilous" and that destroying al Qaeda was the top goal.
"Multiple intelligence estimates have warned that al Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the US homeland from its safe-haven in Pakistan," Obama said, adding that many nations, including Nato partners and also countries like Iran and China, had a stake in achieving security in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He said he wanted to form a new contact group for Afghanistan that would include Iran, Russia, India and China, as well as Nato allies. The Nato-led force in Afghanistan numbers more than 70,000 - 38,000 of them from the United States.
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