Afghanistan welcomes Obama's revised strategy

Kabul, Dec 2 : Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta Wednesday welcomed the revised strategy of US President Barack Obama for Afghanistan, saying it would give his country a chance to take over the security of the war-torn country from international troops.

President Obama unveiled his long-awaited revised Afghanistan strategy in a speech on Tuesday in which he pledged to send 30,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan, but set a time frame of 18 months for US troops to start withdrawal after handing over security

to Afghan forces.

"Eighteen months is a good chance for us to take over," Spantatold a press conference in Kabul. "We must finally accelerate the Afghanization of security and governance. This is the responsibility of the Afghans to take the burden on our shoulders."

The foreign minister said that his country would not be alone in its struggle to boost the ability of Afghan security forces, adding, "President Obama said that they will continue to help us so that we have the necessary capability to defend our country."

During his speech to cadets at the US Military Academy at West Point in New York, Obama said that the buildup of the new forces is expected to be completed by next summer, when the US force is due to reach 98,000 troops.

The US president also said that his July 2011 target to begin withdrawals would depend on "conditions on the ground" and is meant to pressure the Afghan government to act swiftly toward taking responsibility for the country.

NATO commander in the country, US general Stanley McChrystal, who was speaking to reporters in Kabul hours after Obama's address, said that "vast majority" of Taliban forces were reconcilable.

"Now there are some Taliban that are probably very difficult to convince, very hardcore ideologue or people with certain agendas, but the vast majority I don't believe, in my assessment, are falling into that category," McChrystal said.

Obama said recently said that the government of re-elected President Hamid Karzai must work to improve the country, warning that US support was conditional on achieving results, especially at ending corruption.

He repeated his warnings again Tuesday by saying "This effortmust be based on performance. The days of providing a blank cheque are over."