US President Barack Obama is holding an important video conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai today (Wednesday) to discuss the US troops' withdrawal and other matters pertaining to ongoing operation against insurgency in Afghanistan. The US President also held his monthly meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan with his national security team on Monday.
In the session, the President received briefing on progress in implementing US strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan following the US operation in Abbottabad, which led to the killing of Osama, bin Laden (OBL). President Barack Obama's decision to begin US troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan in July is being viewed with extreme concern in Pakistan, sources revealed to this correspondent.
US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan would pave the way for even greater cross border infiltration, sources maintained. Defence experts maintain that Americans seek intelligence information from Pakistan but are unwilling to share their intelligence as was clearly revealed during Operation Geronimo when American navy seals entered Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad and killed him. Besides this one way intelligence sharing has not benefited Pakistan, analysts further argue, because once we share intelligence with the Americans want us to 'do more'.
Instead of acknowledging Pakistan's effort, it (US) puts more pressure, analysts add. President Barack Obama would announce his decision on how many troops to withdraw from Afghanistan in July after the video conference with Karzai. This will be the start of a transition to Afghan security control scheduled to conclude in 2014. Obama said it is for the Afghan people to take responsibility for their own security and cited the training American troops are providing them.
Defence expert, Lieutenant General Talat Masood (Retd) said that time has come that we should really focus on our internal security and all the hiccups directly linked with the security challenges must be addressed without further delay. The most important task ahead is to have a comprehensive counter-terrorism plan to counter insurgency, he said.