Disagrees with Gates
Faced with the sharp criticism from his former Defence Secretary Robert Gates, President Barack Obama has stoutly defended his Afghan policy, remarking that “war is never easy”.
“The good news is that because of that strategy that we came up with, by the end of this year we will have completed combat operations in Afghanistan,” Obama said in response to a question during a media appearance with his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy.
Obama began by praising Gates for his “outstanding job for me as Secretary of Defense” before proceeding to defend himself against the latter’s criticism of the approach on Afghanistan in his memoir.
“As he notes, he and I and the rest of my national security team came up with a strategy for Afghanistan that was the right strategy and we are continuing to execute,” Obama said, adding: “I think that what’s important is that we got the policy right, but that this is hard and it always has been.”
“Whenever you’ve got men and women that you are sending into harm’s way after having already made enormous investments of blood and treasure in another country, then part of your job as Commander-in-Chief is to sweat the details on it and to recognize that there’s enormous sacrifices that are being made, and you’re constantly asking yourselves questions about how you can improve the strategy,” Obama maintained.
Gates in his book has written about Obama’s preoccupation with an exit strategy. Recalling a White House meeting in March 2011, Gates wrote: “As I sat there, I thought: The President doesn’t trust his commander, can’t stand (Afghan president) Karzai, doesn’t believe in his own strategy and doesn’t consider the war to be his. For him, it’s all about getting out.”
Obama in his counter said that while war is never easy, he has had “unwavering confidence in our troops and their performance in some of the most difficult situations imaginable”.
“That job is not yet done. And I do think it’s important for Americans to recognize that we still have young men and women in harm’s way, along with coalition partners who are continuing to make sacrifices, and we need to see this job all the way through. And that is going to be the case through the end of this year, and we’re going to continue to have significant interest in the region for years to come,” Obama said.
He also spoke of US’s commitment to “continue to assist the Afghan people in making sure that they have a stable country that is working on behalf of the Afghan people and that it is a good partner with us”.