President Obama Defines ‘Core Mission’ In Afghanistan

By Gilbert Mercier NEWS  JUNKIE  POST

While in Africa, President Obama gave an exclusive interview to UK’s Sky News. At the front and center of it was the war in Afghanistan, and the President’s assessment of the situation on the ground.

The war in Afghanistan has become rather unpopular in the UK due to the rising death toll. In the last 10 days alone, 15 British soldiers have died, making the number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan higher than the one in Iraq. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, while trying to justify British involvement in Afghanistan said that: “The UK’s military deployment was aimed at preventing terrorism in the UK.”

President Obama told Sky News that the war in Afghanistan was a critical element in the battle against terrorism.

Here is what he said:

“This is not an American mission, the mission in Afghanistan is one that the Europeans have as much, if not more, at stake in than we do. The likelihood of a terrorist attack in London is at least as high, if not higher, than it is in the United States. Great Britain has played an extraordinary role in the coalition, understanding that we can not allow either Afghanistan or Pakistan to be safe haven for Al-Qaeda, those who with impunity blow up train stations in London or buildings in New-York. We knew that this Summer was going to be tough fighting.

The Taliban have, I think, been pushed back but we still have a long way to go. We’ve got to get through the Afghan election in August. All of us are going to have to do an evaluation after the Afghan election to see what more we can do. It may not be on the military side, it might be on the development side. We need to provide Afghan farmers  an alternative to opium poppy crops and also make sure that we are effectively training a judiciary system and set up a rule of law, in Afghanistan, that people can trust. We’ve got a core mission that we have to accomplish.”

For the full interview, go here.