Pakistan key to success in Afghanistan, says Biden

MUNICH: The United States is seeking to set “clear and achievable” goals for Afghanistan in a comprehensive strategy for which both Washington and its allies must take responsibility, Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday.

This strategy should bring together US civilian and military resources in order to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for Islamist militants and help Afghans develop the capacity to secure their own future.

Speaking at a security conference, he also said that, “no strategy for Afghanistan can succeed without Pakistan.”

“We must all strengthen our cooperation with the people and the government of Pakistan, help them stabilise the tribal areas and promote economic development and opportunity throughout the country.”

“I come to Europe on behalf of a new administration determined to set a new tone in Washington, and in America’s relations around the world,” Biden said.

“We will engage. We will listen. We will consult. America needs the world, just as I believe the world needs America,” he added.

Delivering the Obama administration’s first major foreign policy speech, Biden effectively repudiated former president George W Bush’s “with us or against us” foreign policy. Biden’s speech also tried to turn the page on the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq and Bush’s scepticism over climate change that alienated many Europeans.

But, Biden made clear the United States was still prepared to use military force to protect its national security.

“There is no conflict between our security and our ideals. They are mutually reinforcing. The force of arms won our independence, and throughout our history, the force of arms has protected our freedom. That will not change,” he said.

While promising that Washington would consult and listen more to its allies, he said it would also ask for more from them, for example by taking in inmates from the US military prison at Guantanamo, Cuba, which President Barack Obama has said will be closed within a year.

“America will do more, but America will ask for more from our partners,” he said, adding, “The threats we face have no respect for borders. No single country, no matter how powerful, can best meet them alone.”

In the wide-ranging speech, Biden called for a greater commitment by Nato members in Afghanistan, a united effort to force Iran to scrap its nuclear programme, a sharp reduction in nuclear arsenals and a halt in what he called a “dangerous drift” in relations with Russia.

Biden’s speech was short on any announcements, but analysts had said beforehand that the vice president’s mere appearance at the conference, which is normally attended by the US defence secretary, sent an important signal to Europe that the Obama administration was keen to rebuild strained relations.

There had been much speculation before the conference that Biden would announce the suspension or review of the former Bush administration plans to build a missile defence shield in eastern Europe, a move that angered Russia.

“We will continue to develop missile defences to counter a growing Iranian capability, provided the technology is proven to work and cost effective,” Biden told the gathering of security experts and European leaders.

But, he stressed: “We will do so in consultation with our Nato allies and Russia.”

Biden is due to hold talks with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov on Sunday before returning to Washington, the most high-profile contacts between Moscow and the new Obama administration.

Moscow has sent contradictory signals over what kind of relationship it wants with the new Obama administration - first suspending the deployment of missiles on its Polish border, and then appearing to engineer the closure of an important US military base in Kyrgyzstan, analysts said.

On Iran, Biden said there must be a united effort by the international community to convince Iran to abandon its nuclear programme, which, the West believes is a cover to build an atomic bomb and Tehran insists the programme is for the peaceful generation of electricity.

“We are willing to talk to Iran, and to offer a very clear choice: continue down your current course and there will be pressure and isolation; abandon your illicit nuclear programme and support for terrorism and there will be meaningful incentives,” he said.

Other talking points include nuclear disarmament, the Middle East, the future of the Nato military alliance 20 years after the end of the Cold War, energy security and Iraq.

“The result must be a comprehensive strategy for which we all take responsibility that brings together our civilian and military resources that prevents a terrorist safe have and that helps Afghans develop the capacity to secure their own future,” Biden said.

He called for a renewal of Nato to face 21st century threats and for a new resolve by member states to face them.

“Our Alliance must be better equipped to help stop the spread of the world’s most dangerous weapons, to tackle terrorism and cyber-security, to expand its writ to energy security and to act in and out of area effectively.”