Obama's Afghanistan Plan

In a major break with outgoing George Bush, Obama plans a regional strategy to tackle the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

"As we look to the future, it would be helpful to have an interlocutor" to explore shared objectives, one senior US military official told the Washington Post on Tuesday, November 11.

In a major break with outgoing George Bush, Obama plans a regional strategy to tackle the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, where US causalities this year were the highest since invading the country in 2001.

According Obama military strategists, the bedrock Bush administration policy towards key regional players has outlived its usefulness.

They believe Iran, which borders Afghanistan from the west, should be considered in formulating any Afghanistan plan.

The Iranians "don't want Sunni extremists in charge of Afghanistan any more than we do," said the senior military official.

Washington and Tehran have not had diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic revolution, which toppled the US-backed shah.

Obama's advisers affirm that the new plan would also mark another sharp contrast to the Bush administration by opening a dialogue with "reconcilable" elements of Taliban, ousted by the US in 2001.

The goal is to drop the "unrealistic commitment" for West-backed President Hamid Karzai and focus on maintaining stability, they told the Post.

Obama, critical of Bush's extreme focus on Iraq, has already declared his intention to deploying thousands of additional troops in Afghanistan.

There are already 64,000 foreign troops under US and NATO command in Afghanistan.

Yet, seven years since the invasion Afghanistan remains ravaged by violence and attacks.

Bin Laden  

The incoming administration would also refocus on hunting the elusive leader of Al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden.

The incoming administration would also refocus on hunting the elusive leader of Al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden.

Once he assumes offices on January 20, Obama intends to underscore that bin Laden remains his administration's top target.

"This is our enemy," one adviser told the Post. "He should be our principal target."

Bin Laden was based in Afghanistan until US forces invaded the country and toppled the Taliban regime.

Despite millions of dollars on his head and more millions spent on his pursuit, he has so far eluded capture and is widely believed to be hiding somewhere on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Obama last week received his first high-level intelligence briefing as president-elect.

Members of his transition teams are still studying military and intelligence resources to figure out how they are currently being used to hunt down bin Laden.

The Bush administration has publicly played down the importance of Bin Laden in its so-called war on terror.