Obama, McCain spar over Pakistan

WASHINGTON-US Presidential candidates " John McCain and and Barack Obama " clashed over militants presence in Pakistan, with the Democratic nominee vowing to launch military strikes on al Qaeda and Taliban targets inside Pakistan and his Republican rival countering that he would not go public on such attacks.

In their first televised Presidential debate ahead of the November elections, that lasted for 90-minutes, Obama said that he would launch military strikes against Pakistan, if Islamabad was unable or unwilling to act.

'If United States has al Qaeda, (Osama) bin Laden, top-level lieutenants in our sights and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, then we should take them out', Senator Obama said in the debate held at Oxford, Mississippi.

The comments of Obama, the first African-American to be nominated by a major US political party, disappointed members of the Pakistani community here and other Muslims.

But Obama was hammered by his Republican rival, a veteran of Vietnam war, who said such threats were unhelpful in the wider strategy saying, 'I would not publicly state that I'm going to attack them'.

McCain favoured a strategy that involves use of Pakistani forces against such targets.

The Illinois Senator accused the Bush administration of 'taking its eyes off the ball (Afghanistan)' and diverting military resources to Iraq, which he said had hampered the blows against these groups.

We've got to deal with Pakistan, because al Qaeda and the Taliban have safe havens in Pakistan, across the border in the northwest regions', he said.

He said despite enormous sums of money touching US dollar 10 billion over the last seven years being pumped into Pakistan 'they have not done what needs to be done to get rid of those safe havens'.

The sharp exchanges between the two white House hopefuls came as tension mounted between allies Islamabad and Washington after the September 3 cross-border raids by US-led coalition forces into Pakistan.

Obama, 47, said, 'It's difficult. This is not an easy situation. You've got cross-border attacks against US troops. And we've got a choice. We could allow our troops to just be on the defensive and absorb those blows again and again and again and if Pakistan is unwilling to cooperate, or we have to start making some decisions'.

The Democrat nominee hit out at the Republican policy of wooing Musharraf at the cost of alienating Pakistani people.

'And the problem with the strategy that's been pursued was that, for 10 years, we coddled Musharraf and alienated the Pakistani population, because we were anti-democratic. We had a 20th-century mindset that basically said, 'Well, you know, he may be a dictator, but he's our dictator'.

But Senator McCain had a different take on Pakistan.

'The new President of Pakistan (Asif Ali Zardari) got his hands full'.

'I've been to Waziristan. I can see how tough that terrain is. It's ruled by a handful of tribes. And, yes, Senator Obama calls for more troops, but what he doesn't understand, it's got to be a new strategy', he said.

'The same strategy that he condemned in Iraq. It's going to have to be employed in Afghanistan. And we're going to have to help the Pakistanis go into these areas and obtain the allegiance of the people. And it's going to be tough', he added.

He said that the Pakistanis are going to have to understand that bombing in the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad was a signal from the terrorists that they don't want that govt to cooperate with us in combating the Taliban and jihadist elements.

However, Obama advocated taking US troops from Iraq and sending them to Afghanistan to deal with resurgent Taliban militia and al Qaeda forces there.

'We cannot separate Afghanistan from Iraq because our commanders have said we don't have the troops right now to deal with Afghanistan'.

But, Arizona Senator countered saying that around 30,000 extra troops that he had advocated for Iraq had 'succeeded and we are are winning in Iraq. We will come home with victory and honour'.

McCain called for a new strategy for fighting al Qaeda and rejected suggestions of cutting off aid to Pakistan.

'I'm not prepared at this time to cut off aid to Pakistan. So I'm not prepared to threaten it, as Senator Obama apparently wants to do, as he has said that he would announce military strikes into Pakistan'.

He said that so it's not just the addition of troops that matters. It's a strategy that will succeed. And Pakistan is a very important element in this. And I know how to work with him. And I guarantee you I would not publicly state that I'm going to attack them'.

The two contenders, in the first of the three Presidential debates before the November 4 elections, had radically opposed visions on how to protect US from another terror attack such as the 9/11.

McCain said though he believed the threat of another 9/11 was less than in the past but 'we still have a long way to go before we can declare US safe'.

Obama said, 'the biggest threat we face right now is not a nuclear missile coming over the sky, it's a suitcase' hinting that the new dangers to the world would come from nuclear weapons landing into the hands of terrorists and chemical attacks.