United States President Barack Obama disagrees with the remarks of his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari that the United States-led coalition forces is losing the war against terror in Afghanistan, the White House has said.
“Well, I don’t think the (US) President would agree with President Zardari’s conclusion that the war is lost. I haven’t seen the interview. I don’t know why he’s come to that conclusion,” White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, told reporters.
Mr. Gibbs was responding to a question related to an interview given by Mr. Zardari to a French newspaper that the international community to which Pakistan belongs is losing the war against the Taliban.
“The international community, of which Pakistan is a part, is losing the war against the Taliban because we have lost the battle for hearts and minds,” Mr. Zardari had told Le Monde .
“Military reinforcements are only a small part of the response. To win the support of the Afghan population, you must bring economic development and prove you can not only change their lives, but improve them,” he had said.
Mr. Gibbs said that the actions and the efforts of the coalition forces, international and the U.S., taken over in the last several months were very much in the hearts and minds of the Afghan people at the forefront.
“The Afghan people know of the brutality of Taliban, just as the Pakistani people on the actions that their extremist counterparts were taking in Pakistan last year, to move on the capital of Pakistan is why the country of Pakistan started to take more direct action against safe havens,” Mr. Gibbs said.
“So I think that the hearts and minds of those in Afghanistan and Pakistan are obviously a key part of our strategy, as well as the hearts and the minds of the extremists that seek to do Afghans or Pakistanis harm,” he said.
