By Lalit K JhaWashington, Dec 4 (PTI) US President Donald Trump isclosely monitoring the progress in his new South AsiaStrategy, which gives a major role to India, and is very muchengaged in its implementation, a senior administrationofficial has said.
Trump had sought a major role for India in bringing peacein Afghanistan and ruled out a hasty withdrawal of troops fromthe war-torn nation while announcing his new Afghanistan andSouth Asia policy in August.
"The president has been very closely monitoring theprogress of the South Asia strategy. He's very interested inany progress that has been made," a senior administrationofficial told PTI.
Trump had a meeting with his Defense Secretary Jim Mattisbefore he left on his visit to Pakistan. The defense Secretaryis again likely to brief the president on his return.
On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly Session inNew York in September, Trump met the Afghan President AshrafGhani.
"That was a good opportunity to hear from President Ghanion how the strategy was being received in Afghanistan," theofficial said.
Observing that Trump has been getting updates from hisnational security team on what's happening in Afghanistan, theofficial said the president is very much engaged andinterested in how this strategy is progressing.
Asserting that the things are signs of encouragement inthe implementation of the South Asia strategy, the officialsaid it is moving in the right direction.
"We need to give more time for the strategy to takeroot," the official said.
"It's a multifaceted strategy. We're using all the toolsthat the US has its disposal – military, economic, diplomatic.
All these parts of the strategy are important. They all needto work in tandem together. The president is very interestedin keeping track of how the strategy is going. And he isreceiving regular updates," the senior administration officialsaid.
In his August 21 speech, Trump had said that terroristswho slaughter innocent people will find no glory in this lifeor the next.
"They are nothing but thugs, and criminals, andpredators, and -- that's right -- losers. Working alongsideour allies, we will break their will, dry up theirrecruitment, keep them from crossing our borders, and yes, wewill defeat them, and we will defeat them handily," he hadsaid.
"In Afghanistan and Pakistan, America's interests areclear: We must stop the resurgence of safe havens that enableterrorists to threaten America, and we must prevent nuclearweapons and materials from coming into the hands of terroristsand being used against us, or anywhere in the world for thatmatter," Trump said.
Announcing his strategy, Trump said a core pillar of hisnew strategy is a shift from a time-based approach to onebased on conditions.
"Another fundamental pillar of our new strategy is theintegration of all instruments of American power --diplomatic, economic, and military -- toward a successfuloutcome," he said.
Describing Pakistan as an important part of his strategy,Trump had said the US can no longer be silent about Pakistan'ssafe havens for terrorist organisations, the Taliban, andother groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond.
Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effortin Afghanistan. It has much to lose by continuing to harborcriminals and terrorists, he had said. PTI LKJAJR.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.