US Has No Long-Term Stake in Afghanistan, Says Hillary Clinton

WASHINGTON, November 15, 2009 (AFP) –

The United States has no long-term stake in Afghanistan and its primary aim is to defeat Al-Qaeda there, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday.

"We're not interested in staying in Afghanistan. We have no long-term stake there. We want that to be made very clear," she told ABC news.

"We agree that our goal here is to defeat Al-Qaeda. That has been a clear goal and a mission from the president ever since he made his commitment of additional troops back in the spring."

"And we understand that the Afghans themselves need help in order to defend themselves against the Taliban. Those are mutually reinforcing missions but our highest obligation is to the American people," she said.

Clinton, whose interview aired two days after President Barack Obama promised a decision soon on whether to send thousands more US troops to Afghanistan, also pressured Afghan President Hamid Karzai to do more to fight corruption.

"Now we believe that President Karzai and his government can do better. We've delivered that message," she said.

Obama has launched an exhaustive Afghan strategy review over whether or how to reinforce around 68,000 US troops that are fighting in Afghanistan.

Support grows for Afghanistan pullout: poll

Sat Nov 14, 2009, 6:18 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) –

A growing majority of Britons want British troops out of Afghanistan within 12 months, a poll released Saturday showed, as a NATO commander spoke of his son's horrific injuries in the war.

Some 71 percent of those questioned for the Independent on Sunday newspaper said they would back a phased withdrawal of British forces leading to an end of combat operations within 12 months.

And 47 percent said the continued deployment of the 9,000-strong British contingent in Afghanistan made terror attacks at home more likely.

Opposition to the conflict is increasing in Britain after the bodies of six soldiers killed in Afghanistan were repatriated this week, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown was criticised by a dead soldier's mother for an error-strewn condolence letter.

Around 1,000 people demonstrated against the war Saturday as NATO's parliamentary assembly met in Edinburgh.

The British government has faced repeated accusations that troops are being put at increased risk because of insufficient equipment and helicopters.

But Lieutenant General Nick Parker, the British deputy commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan insisted shortages of kit were not to blame for his 26-year-old son Harry losing both legs in a booby-trap bomb in July.

Parker told the News of the World that the equipment supplied to British troops was right for the job they are doing.

He suggested that the key to stemming casualties and achieving military success in the country was not more helicopters but a strategy to win the hearts and minds of local people by getting out into their communities.

"Rather than asking for more helicopters -- which may be a requirement -- what we've got to do is develop tactics that get you out and amongst the people and re-establish ourselves as a force for good in the community," he told the newspaper.

"I know my view, as a fat general sitting behind a desk, will be treated with derision... (but) I genuinely believe there is no need to buy extra kit.

"I'm absolutely convinced that what Harry was given was right for what he was doing. However, nothing was ever going to stop his leg getting blown off."

A total of 232 British personnel have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2001.

Brown said Friday he was confident of persuading other countries to contribute to an extra 5,000 troops on top of a likely US surge. Britain has promised an additional 500.

The ComRes poll for the Independent on Sunday questioned 1,007 adults by phone on November 11-12.