Washington, October 08: US President Barack Obama has met with top advisors on Afghanistan and Pakistan amid mounting rift over Washington’s future strategy in the war-torn country.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that the meeting between Obama and a team of about 15 advisors, including US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and top military commanders, lasted for at least three hours.
“This is a test for our country to adequately address and correctly address the extremist threat that emanates from Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Gibbs said about the third gathering of the president’s national security team.
Gibbs noted that most of those who masterminded the September 11 attacks have now shifted to Pakistan, which was the focus of the meeting.
The White House Press Secretary said the Afghanistan-Pakistan border remains a hotbed for terrorist activities and is a concern for US national security.
The US and NATO casualties have sharply risen in recent months as public support for the eight-year-old war has eroded.
Sending as many as 40,000 additional troops as General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan, has asked for could spark a backlash within Obama’s own Democratic Party.
—–Agencies