Скачать или смотреть Special envoy testifies about US policy on Pakistan/Afghanistan

(12 May 2009) SHOTLIST
1. Richard Holbrooke, US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, entering and sitting down
2. Cutaway of Senate Foreign Relations Committee
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Holbrooke, US Special Representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan
"Why then would I still support the troop build-up in Afghanistan, which I strongly support for the simplest of reasons. You could not leave the American, the NATO and the ISAF forces in the deployment structure which was inherited on January 20th. We did not have enough forces ourselves to do our own job. So the recommendation of General Petraeus and General McKiernan for an additional 17-thousand troops and 4-thousand trainers was, in my view, absolutely critical."
4. Cutaway of Senators
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Holbrooke, US Special Representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan:
"Our mission was clearly stated by the president in his speech at the end of March. It is to defeat, dismantle and disable al-Qaida and the enemies of the United States who directly threaten us. Now, since the al-Qaida is overwhelmingly in Pakistan, not Afghanistan, the question legitimately arises, well, why are we fighting in Afghanistan when the enemy is in Pakistan? And we spent a lot of time discussing this. And the answer is that Taliban and al-Qaida are so interrelated that Taliban, you might envisage it as the cordon which surrounds the hard core. Taliban does the local jihad. Al Qaida does the global jihad. And they interact. And we believe, strongly believe all observers would agree, that the enemies of the United States - Taliban, Al Qaida, Baitullah Mehsud and others, are, who are also enemies of the Pakistani democracy, are people we must deal with."
6. Wide of Senate Foreign Relations Committee
STORYLINE:
President Barack Obama's point man for Afghanistan and Pakistan said on Tuesday that more US forces in Afghanistan were key to the war effort there.
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Special Representative Richard Holbrooke acknowledged that an increase in US troops in Afghanistan may force the Taliban further into Pakistan, causing even more instability there.
But he maintained the current troop levels were not adequate to do the job.
He called the additional 17-thousand troops and 4-thousand trainers "absolutely critical."
On Monday, the Pentagon replaced General David McKiernan the top US commander in the country with Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal, a former leader of special forces.
McKiernan's exit came as the more than 21-thousand additional US forces began to arrive in Afghanistan - dispatched by Obama to confront the Taliban more forcefully.
A record 38-thousand US troops are already in the country.
Asked why additional troops would be sent to Afghanistan, if al-Qaida is known to be operating out of Pakistan, Holbrooke said the two nations and their security were closely linked, and therefore US strategy should be, as well.
On the issue of Pakistan, Holbrooke underscored that he did not believe it to be a failed state.
But he said, the nation was under intense pressure from extremists.
Holbrooke said the US had a vital national security interest in protecting the democratically elected government of Pakistan.
He told Senators that required increased financial aid, to build new infrastructure and battle poverty there, as well as to train the Pakistani Frontier Corps, a counterinsurgent force that operates along the Pakistani-Afghan border.

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