Osama bin Laden - Target utama Obama

WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama plans major changes in United States policy on the war in Afghanistan and intends to renew the commitment to hunt down Osama bin Laden, underscoring the fight against al Qaeda as the nation's highest priority.
The Washington Post says Obama wants to explore a more regional strategy in Afghanistan, including the possibility of negotiations with Iran.
"This [al Qaeda] is our enemy," the Post quoted an unnamed senior adviser as saying. "And he [bin Laden] should be our principal target."
Unidentified national security advisers to the President-elect were quoted as saying Obama believes the Bush Administration has played down the hunt for the al Qaeda leader after years of failing to get him.
The report also quotes United States intelligence officials saying the search for bin Laden is as intensive as ever but al Qaeda's threat would remain large even if he were neutralised.
Members of Obama's transition team "have yet to examine available military and intelligence resources and how they are currently being used", the Post reported.
Additionally, it said, they had yet to plot a diplomatic approach to Pakistan, where bin Laden is thought to be in hiding.
Yesterday it was announced that Obama has hired veteran Democrats Sam Nunn and Warren Christopher to head his transition teams at the Pentagon and State Department.
Nunn is a former Georgia senator who was chairman of the Senate armed services committee. He was once rumoured as a potential running mate for Obama this year. Christopher was President Bill Clinton's first Secretary of State.
They are part of a national security brains trust for Obama that is heavy on former Clinton officials, including possible national security adviser James Steinberg, a former State Department official.
Obama's national security transition offices will work with the outgoing Bush Administration to hand over management of two wars and complex diplomacy with North Korea, Russia and other nations. Obama has not announced his choices as Defence Secretary and Secretary of State.
Nunn will lead a large transition office at the Pentagon that also includes former Clinton Navy Secretary Richard Danzig and former Clinton-era Pentagon comptroller Bill Lynn.
Obama has said he would be receptive to unconditional talks with Iran but later said that would be impossible without proper groundwork.
The Washington Post report quoted a US military official as saying in the future an intermediary could be used to establish the groundwork for such talks.
President George W. Bush has made talks between the US and Iran contingent upon the Islamic republic stopping its uranium enrichment programme. Iran maintains its enrichment programme is solely for the generation of energy, not nuclear weapons as Bush believes.
The Post says Obama plans to add thousands of troops to the campaign in Afghanistan, but might also seek to find common ground with Iran, with which it shares a border.
The unidentified official was quoted as saying the Iranians do not want Sunni extremists in charge of Afghanistan any more than the US does. Most Iranian Muslims belong to the Shiite sect of Islam, not the rival Sunni.
On the Taleban question, the report quoted advisers as saying Obama might support discussions between the Afghan Government and elements of the Taleban which have agreed to abandon violence and respect the country's constitution.
An internet monitoring service said yesterday that Taleban insurgents had urged Obama to withdraw US troops from both Afghanistan and Iraq. Site Intelligence Group said the message on a website used by the Taleban claimed Obama's victory "reveals the collective willingness of American people not to continue the current despicable and anti-human wars in Afghanistan and Iraq".

Ulasan:
Seperti yang saya jangkakan Obama masih meneruskan usaha-usaha Bush. Tidak ada yang baru berlaku walaupun harapan terlalu tinggi untuk menyelesaikan kemelut ini!