US, Pakistan, Afghanistan face common foe, says Obama

WASHINGTON: The US, Pakistani and Afghan presidents began trilateral talks on Wednesday, hoping to come out with a joint strategy for defeating extremists operating in the Pak-Afghan region. US President Barack Obama held separate bilateral talks with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts before joining them again for the trilateral meeting.




The first bilateral — between presidents Obama and Karzai — continued for about an hour while President Zardari arrived at the White House at 2.20pm local time for a similar meeting with the US leader.

He was accompanied by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Salman Farooqi and Ambassador Husain Haqqani who also attended the trilateral talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier in the day.

Only yards from Mr Zardari stood more than 100 demonstrators protesting military actions against Baloch nationalists. They were holding placards with slogans such as ‘End Genocide in Balochistan, Freedom Our Motto, Free, Free Sindh, Balochistan’.

In a brief speech after the talks, Mr Obama said the three nations were cooperating in new ways to fight terrorism and to improve the lives of Pakistanis and Afghans, AFP reported.

Obama said he expected more ‘violence and setbacks’ in the war against the militants as he pledged US commitment to the two countries.

‘We meet today as three sovereign nations joined by a common goal —to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda and its extremist allies,’ he said.

Speaking in the aftermath of US air strikes believed to have killed more than 100 civilians, Obama said the United States would work with its Afghan and Pakistani allies to ‘make every effort to avoid civilian casualties.’

The United States had made a ‘lasting commitment’ to defeat al Qaeda, Obama said. ‘This support will not waver and it will be sustained. No matter what happens, we will not be deterred.’