Obama warns Afghan commitment 'not open-ended'
Posted: 12 November 2009 0928 hrs

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WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama warned on Wednesday that the US commitment to Afghanistan was "not open-ended" and that Kabul must make improvements in governance, an administration official said.

"The president believes that we need to make clear to the Afghan government that our commitment is not open-ended," said an official providing a readout of Obama's Wednesday meeting with his war cabinet to discuss whether to deploy more troops to Afghanistan.

"After years of substantial investments by the American people, governance in Afghanistan must improve in a reasonable period of time to ensure a successful transition to our Afghan partner," the official said, adding that Obama had yet to decide on troop plans for the war-torn country.

Meeting in the White House for an eighth time to deliberate on the future of the mission in Afghanistan, Obama and his top advisers discussed the time frames necessary to implement each of the four options currently on the table for the war against a growing insurgency.

Top US and NATO commander General Stanley McChrystal, who has called for an extra 40,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, participated in the meeting.

The administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that troop levels were discussed at the meeting, and that "contrary to published reports, the president has not made a decision about the options presented".

According to The New York Times, one of the options before Obama is McChrystal's proposal which would significantly boost the 68,000 troops already in Afghanistan.

Another proposal is to send in 30,000 extra troops, while a third envisages ramping up the numbers by between 20,000 and 25,000, the Times said.

A fourth option had been added recently, but administration officials refused to spell out any details of troop numbers.

The credibility of President Hamid Karzai's government has plunged in the months since a fraud-marred election and the subsequent abandonment of a runoff between the incumbent and his top rival assured Karzai's second term.

Rampant corruption has been seen as undermining allied efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, where a Taliban-driven insurgency has swelled over the past year.


- AFP/so