No surprises in Af Pak review: White House

[sonicboom]

No surprises in Af Pak review: White House

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Dec 14 (PTI) The annual Af-Pak review by US President Barack Obama is unlikely to throw any major surprises though it would highlight the continued threat from terrorist safe havens in Pakistan and talk about the progress made, a top administration official said today.

The annual review is likely to be released by Obama on Thursday and comes closely after the president''s pointsman of the Af-Pak region, Richard Holbrooke, passed away.

"We''re making progress, and we still have many challenges. That''s not to say -- but that the view is that our transition can and should begin a conditions-based transition of our added forces in July 2011, just as NATO also came to the conclusion of beginning to transfer some security in different regions and parts of the country at the beginning of next year," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters at his daily news conference.

He said there is little possibility that the document will throw up some surprise.

"I think you will see, that there has been some important progress in halting the momentum of the Taliban in Afghanistan, we have seen through counterterrorism success at degrading senior al-Qaida leaders, and we''ve seen greater cooperation over the course of the past 18 months with the Pakistani government," Gibbs said.

He said the review will be an overview of an enumeration of the continued challenges that the US-led forces face in the region and will focus on a number of areas including strengthening capacity inside Afghanistan.

"We still have the ongoing challenge and threat of safe havens in Pakistan," Gibbs told reporters after the US President chaired a White House Situation Room meeting with his top national security aides on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

At the meeting, Obama reviewed the findings of the draft national-security-staff-led report on the progress that has been made in implementing US strategy, focusing on the three different components of the review: al-Qaida''s senior leadership, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

"In each area, the president and his team discussed both the progress that has been made as well as areas for additional focus moving forward.

"The President directed his team to finalise the report while also continuing to address the range of issues discussed in the report as we head into 2011," Gibbs said. PTI LKJ

No surprises in Af Pak review: White House - *International News