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White House to Push Afghanistan, Pakistan to Fight Extremists
Obama Will Tell Presidents Karzai and Zardari: 'We Face a Common Threat'

By JAKE TAPPER and KAREN TRAVERS
May 6, 2009

With growing concerns about security in Pakistan, President Obama will convene a trilateral meeting today with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan to discuss how the three nations can work together to stabilize the region.

White House officials say that Obama will push Karzai and Zardari to commit to work more intensely and cooperatively to fight al Qaeda and other extremists.

The two leaders are in Washington this week for a series of meetings where the focus will be on the shared security concerns among the three nations.

"The core principle of this meeting is the centrality of Pakistan and Afghanistan to our own national security," a senior administration official said. "We face a common threat."

Today's meetings kick off at the State Department, where Secretary Hillary Clinton will meet first with Karzai, then with Zardari.

In the afternoon, Obama will hold separate meetings with both Karzai and Zardari, and then all three leaders will meet. In the evening, Vice President Joe Biden will host a dinner with Karzai and Zardari, their respective delegations and congressional leaders.

After Pakistan attempted to enter into a deal with Taliban leaders in April, ceding them the Swat Valley, the Obama administration expressed growing concerns about the stability of Pakistan, a nation with nuclear weapons.

Obama was asked at his news conference last week if he could reassure the American people that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is secure, even with ongoing fighting with the Taliban there.

"I'm confident that we can make sure that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is secure," he said. "Primarily, initially, because the Pakistani army, I think, recognizes the hazards of those weapons falling into the wrong hands. We've got strong military-to-military consultation and cooperation."

But Obama said last week he is "gravely concerned" about the "very fragile" civilian government in Pakistan.

Adm. Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said Monday he remains "comfortable" that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are secure and does not think those weapons could get into the hands of terrorists.

"We've invested -- we, the United States -- have invested very significantly over the last three years to work with them to improve that security. And we're satisfied, very satisfied, with that progress," he said at the Pentagon.

But Mullen did say that this is a "strategic concern" that the United States and Pakistan share.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last month that Pakistan "is basically abdicating to the Taliban and to the extremists."

"Look at why this is happening," Clinton said, testifying before Congress. "If you talk to people in Pakistan, especially in the ungoverned territories, which are increasing in number, they don't believe the state has a judiciary system that works. It's corrupt. It doesn't extend its power into the countryside."

"Swat was a real wake-up call to a lot of people in Pakistan," a senior administration official said. "We understood that and we reflected that. ... We said what we said, and they did what they did."

Pakistan Plans to Fight Back Against Taliban

The Pakistani government's deal with the Taliban in the Swat Valley fell through and now the Pakistani government is fighting back.

Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday, Richard Holbrooke, the administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said that Zardari told him Monday night that his army would expand its efforts to fight the encroaching Taliban, including sending troops into the Taliban-controlled Swat area.

Holbrooke regarded this as a positive development but cautioned that "we'll see how this goes."

While the United States is working with the Afghans to build up and train their troops, it is an entirely different story in Pakistan.

There, administration sources say, the issue is more one of Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command in Iraq, teaching the Pakistani military how to deal with a counterinsurgency.

A senior military official said Pakistan's military is largely built up for a regional conflict with India. Until the past few months, its frontier corps was underequipped and undermanned.

The United States will provide Pakistan with $400 million for counterinsurgency training and support, and equipment for counterinsurgency measures such as night-vision goggles, helicopter support and maintenance.

But the leader of Pakistan says that's not enough.

"I need drones to be part of my arsenal," Zardari told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Tuesday. "I need that facility. I need that equipment. I need that to be my police arrangement. I need to own those."

Obama Administration Will Push for Benchmarks for Pakistan

Obama ordered a full-scale review of the policy in the region before his inauguration. As part of that new policy, released at the end of March, he pledged to hold frequent trilateral talks. The next one will be after the Afghan elections in August.

When Obama outlined new diplomatic efforts in Pakistan, he urged Congress to approve legislation to significantly increase aid to Pakistan that could be used for reconstructing projects and democracy efforts.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., and ranking member Richard Lugar, D-Ind., introduced legislation Tuesday that would provide $1.5 billion in aid every year for the next five years.

Obama cautioned in March that the U.S. aid does not constitute a "blank check" for Pakistan, noting "years of mixed results" in its anti-terrorism efforts.

"Pakistan must demonstrate its commitment to rooting out al Qaeda and the violent extremists within its borders," he said. "And we will insist that action be taken -- one way or another -- when we have intelligence about high-level terrorist targets."

Holbrooke, who will take a leadership role in many of these meetings, returned recently from a donor conference where he secured $5.5 billion in pledged aid for Pakistan, including $1 billion from Japan and $330 million from Iran.

Meanwhile, Clinton will push Karzai and Zardari today to accept benchmarks to gauge success before they meet with Obama. Holbrooke said Tuesday that the United States would implement performance measurements, or metrics, to gauge Pakistan's progress as the United States will again be spending a significant amount of money on military and non-military assistance to the country.

Acting State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood told reporters that they're "a set of principles that's going to guide our joint cooperation as we go forward in dealing with these tremendous challenges that both Pakistan and Afghanistan face."

Cabinet Members Also Meet on Range of Issues

Other issues will be addressed in these two-day trilateral talks as well, including corruption, border posts, water management, food security, job creation, trade ties, building police forces, preparing relief efforts for the future refugees who may soon be displaced as the United States intensifies military operations, and addressing their problems with a "whole of government" approach so matters aren't just handled militarily.

Today's and Thursday's meetings won't just bring the three presidents together.

The intelligence chiefs from both countries will meet with CIA director Leon Panetta at Langley; the ministers of interior will meet with Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI director Robert Mueller; the finance ministers will meet with deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew and the agriculture ministers will meet with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

In many cases, the Afghan and Pakistani officials have not met their counterparts from across the border, so these talks will be new for them.

"Success in one country leads to success in another," a senior administration official said.