US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled a long-term, non-military strategy to stabilize Afghanistan and Pakistan that calls for sending more civilian experts to the region.
A week before a London conference aimed at promoting Afghanistan”s development, the new civilian strategy outlines plans to rebuild the Afghan farm sector, improve governance, and bring extremists back into mainstream society.
It also calls for boosting neighboring Pakistan”s capabilities to fight a growing Islamist insurgency and to enhance the US partnership with Islamabad, partly through supporting political and economic reforms.
A key part of the plan also calls for “countering extremist voices” in both countries, where anti-American feelings run high.
It complements a military strategy in which President Barack Obama announced December 1 he will deploy another 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan this year — on top of more than 70,000 already there — to undercut a resurgent Taliban.
Under his plan, troops are to begin withdrawing in July next year.
