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Obama to press Pakistan on fight against Taliban

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-06 20:37

Holbrooke's comments came as Pakistan's military appeared ready to launch a new offensive against Taliban forces mobilized in the northwestern Swat Valley region. Black-turbaned militants roamed city streets and seized buildings as thousands of people fled the battleground. Pakistani officials braced for an exodus of half a million people.

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The fighting follows the collapse of a three-month truce with the Taliban in the valley that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had likened to an abdication of government control to extremists. It will test the ability of Pakistan's military and the resolve of civilian leaders who had hoped the insurgents could be partners in peace.

Obama and Clinton will hold two sets of meetings Wednesday with Zardari and Karzai, who made comments similar to Holbrooke's in a Tuesday speech at a Washington think tank. Karzai said the key to the Taliban's resurgence in recent years is its havens across the border in Pakistan.

Holbrooke said the talks, which will continue at a lower level on Thursday, would be "historically important."

"We are talking today about an issue that is of direct importance to our national security," he said, noting that comparisons of the situation to the Vietnam War were inaccurate because the enemy in that case had never posed a direct threat to the United States. The Taliban and al-Qaida remain the most serious threat to national security, he said.

Ahead of Obama's discussions with Zardari and Karzai, Clinton will see them and their delegations separately at the State Department before bringing the two sides together. Later, at the White House, Obama will follow the same pattern in talks with the two leaders.

On Thursday, other top Obama officials will meet separately with their counterparts from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Those include Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller.

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