Afghanistan welcomes Obama win, wants new strategy

KABUL (Reuters), Suara Indonesia News – Afghans welcomed Barack Obama's U.S. election victory on Wednesday, saying they looked forward to a greater focus and new strategy on the war with Taliban insurgents that has killed at least 4,000 people this year alone.

Most Afghans were grateful to President George W. Bush when U.S. troops ended the Taliban's austere Islamist rule for sheltering al Qaeda leaders behind the September 11 attacks.

But with the war now in its eighth year, Afghans are caught between a deepening and resilient Taliban insurgency on one side and on the other, much feared U.S. and NATO military might which backs an Afghan government most see as corrupt and ineffective.

"I applaud the American people ... and hope this election and President Obama's coming into office will bring peace to Afghanistan," President Hamid Karzai told a news conference.

During his election campaign, Obama was critical of Karzai over his failure to tackle widespread corruption, the booming trade in illegal opium and over the effectiveness of his government -- all factors that fuel the Taliban insurgency.

But Obama pledged a new focus on Afghanistan, which analysts agree the Bush administration neglected by sending troops and vital resources to Iraq, giving the Taliban a chance to regroup and relaunch an insurgency that now threatens the capital.

"I'm glad Obama won. He's young, he's energetic, he's spoken of the need to pay more attention to Afghanistan," said women's activist and radio station chief Jamila Mujahid. "Bush made a mistake by sending troops and resources to Iraq."

Afghan officials called for more diplomatic effort to bring Afghanistan and Pakistan closer together to stamp out safe havens the Taliban enjoy in Pakistan's rugged border region.

"The request of Afghanistan is a repeat of our requests that we have had for a long time," Karzai said. "Our request is a change of strategy in the campaign against terrorism; meaning the campaign against terrorism is not in the villages of Afghanistan, the campaign against terrorism is not in our country."

NEW STRATEGY?

Of several dozen Afghan officials, parliamentarians and influential journalists attending an election event in the country's only five-star hotel, almost all backed Obama and the Illinois senator romped home in a mock poll of those present.

But no one in Afghanistan underestimates the size of the task ahead for the new U.S. administration in tackling the country's complex, formidable problems and ending 30 years of conflict.

General David Petraeus, the new overall commander of U.S. troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan, was in Kabul on Wednesday as part of a strategy review of Afghan operations.

The man responsible for the Iraq "surge" is likely to back calls from his generals on the ground for more troops in Afghanistan, but also recommend the new president focus more on development and effective government to undercut the insurgency.

The Taliban said Obama should end the war by withdrawing troops. "The new American president should end a long era of wars and begin an era of peace," Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, told Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press.

"We want to tell America and the West to withdraw forces from Afghanistan," Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf told the Pakistan-based Afghanistan Islamic Press news agency. "I have no expectations but if he sends more troops to Afghanistan, our jihad will continue ... If he brings changes to Bush's policies in real terms, then he will be the winner and if he doesn't then there will be more crises in the world."

The United States has more than 30,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, but together with NATO allies, suffered more casualties during the summer fighting season than in Iraq where there are more than double the number of troops.

A growing chorus of Western leaders now say the Afghan conflict cannot be won by military means alone and other NATO nations with troops in Afghanistan now admit the need to eventually negotiate with the Taliban to bring peace.

It will be difficult for the new U.S. administration to affirm such talks, however, unless the austere Islamist, but locally focused Taliban clearly splits from its more extreme al Qaeda backers who have an international agenda.