West 'not winning the war' in Afghanistan, says Biden

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-11 07:49

US Vice-President Joe Biden appealed to NATO allies yesterday to help the United States tackle worsening security in Afghanistan, saying the alliance was struggling to deal with a threat to the West as a whole.

"The deteriorating situation in the region poses a security threat not just to the United States but to every single nation round this table," Biden told representatives of the 26-country military pact during a visit to Brussels.

"We are not now winning the war, but the war is far from lost," he told a news conference after three hours of talks.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called on NATO to boost efforts before Afghan elections due in August. "It is important that this alliance delivers in the short-term," he told the same news conference.

Western powers are concerned not only by the Taliban's advances in Afghanistan but also by its influence in Pakistan, where Islamic militants have disrupted NATO's supply convoys to Afghanistan and are securing concessions from the government in Islamabad.

Biden said US President Barack Obama wanted to consult with allies on a strategy review and that Washington would "expect everyone to keep whatever commitments were made in arriving at that joint strategy". However, a US official said the trip was not designed to push for more troop pledges.

Obama proposal 'illogical'

Afghanistan's Taliban yesterday turned down as illogical Obama's bid to reach out to moderate elements of the insurgents, saying the exit of foreign troops was the only solution for ending the war.

Obama, in an interview with the New York Times, expressed an openness to adapting tactics in Afghanistan that had been used in Iraq to reach out to moderate elements there.

"This does not require any response or reaction for this is illogical," Qari Mohammad Yousuf, a purported spokesman for the insurgent group, said when asked if its top leader Mullah Mohammad Omar would make any comment about Obama's proposal.

"The Taliban are united, have one leader, one aim, one policy... I do not know why they are talking about moderate Taliban and what it means?",

"If it means those who are not fighting and are sitting in their homes, then talking to them is meaningless. This really is surprising the Taliban."

Agencies

(China Daily 03/11/2009 page12)