Obama Afghan strategy to stress non-military role

WASHINGTON  – President Barack Obama will press Afghan President Hamid Karzai to extend government control beyond the capital and fight corruption in a new U.S. policy that will have a “significant non-military component,” a White House official said on Wednesday.

The White House is conducting a review of all aspects of Afghan policy which is not yet complete.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week named Afghanistan as the new administration’s greatest military challenge. The United States is considering almost doubling its force to more than 60,000 to battle an intensifying insurgency.

Obama is focused on a “more-for-more” strategy, said a White House official who asked not to be named.

“We’re hoping for more from the Afghan government, we’re hoping for more from our allies, but we’re also prepared to do more as it relates to military and non-military resources.

“Exactly what those military resources will look like is still subject to discussion and debate,” the official said.

“But there’s no question that we’d like to see more from the Afghan government as it relates to extending governance beyond Kabul, as it relates to fighting corruption which is ultimately vitally important to the delivery of services and governance to the Afghan people,” he said.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood said a successful long-term U.S. strategy would encompass a mix of approaches.

“What we need to have is the right mix of the three elements — political, economic and military — to really make a difference long-term,” he said.

The New York Times on Wednesday said a new U.S. approach to Afghanistan would emphasize war over development. The White House official said it was premature to suggest that Obama had reached any such conclusion.

“There is no purely military solution to the challenge in Afghanistan so there will be a significant non-military component to anything that we seek to undertake,” the White House official said.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman also disputed elements of the New York Times story, which said it was not clear if Obama intended to support Karzai in a reelection bid.

“That story, to me, seemed to suggest that we had some sort of view on the specific outcome of the election in Afghanistan. I don’t believe that to be true,” he said.

Karzai has lost support after failing to improve security and clean up official corruption since his 2004 election.

“We support the democratically elected president of Afghanistan and look forward to working with him and with others to ensure peace and stability and safety in the region,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.