“You’ve got to stop this war in Afghanistan.” Earlier this week, the White House made great haste to clarify former Ambassador Holbrooke’s final words – a jest, they claimed, to his Pakistani-American doctor.
To buttress that claim, Defense Secretary Gates and Secretary of State Clinton spoke today from the White House press room to indicate the Obama administration’s intention to “stay the course” in Afghanistan, which entails more than a passing interest in Pakistan as well. Stressing that no strictly “military solution” exists, Secretary Clinton nonetheless defended “ongoing military operations” as an “essential component” in the eventual resolution of hostilities. She lauded the end of Pakistan’s “ill-conceived” truce with the Taliban, while Secretary Gates made special note of Islamabad’s dispatch of 140,000 troops to their Afghan frontier. The pursuit of our national security in Central Asia hinges most of all, they argued, in pulling more allies into the fight – Afghans and Pakistanis alike.
