Obama busy in mending rift in NATO

FE Team | Published: March 24, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

From Fazle Rashid
NEW YORK, Mar 23: President Obama was busy yesterday in mending the rift in NATO over France's unilateral decision to bomb Gaddafi's stronghold in Tripoli, capital of Libya. Gaddafi remains defiant asking his supporters to continue the fight. He appeared in public saying "I am here"," I am here", 'we will not surrender'. Meanwhile, the Libyan operation by the international coalition was described as complex with a multilateral force "cobbled together quickly and without a clear understanding among it members about their roles". US President Obama is confident that the coalition would resolve the disagreement. Coalition partners are still trying to buttress Arab support. Obama spoke to Emir of Qatar thanking him for the support to the coalition effort. France proposed a committee of foreign ministers of countries involved in the operation to act as a political steering body. In another development, Ali Abdullah Saleh, president of Yemen, playing the al-Qaeda game like Gaddafi to win the support of the western powers, promised to relinquish office by the end of the year. He, like all autocrats of the region, says the country will sink into a war. The opposition refused to accept president's offer saying he is trying to buy time. The US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates expressed concern as the US seeks a clarity from the president about his offer to step down from office. Abdullah Saleh is wooing Saudi Arabia to intervene but the latter has refused to do so. Saudi Arabia surprisingly would like to see a smooth transition of power in Yemen. Saleh is clinging to power for 32 years. In Oman, Sultan Qaboos, in power for past 40 years, has widened the power of the legislative body to calm down the agitators who are demanding political reforms. The government has announced a wage-hike and increased payments to pensioners. In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai announced that local Afghan policemen will take charge of the security in seven provinces and town under a plant to withdraw Nato's combat forces by 2014. It will signal the end of the ten-year war. The US Secretary of State hailed the decision saying transition is a key pillar of the US strategy. In a separate development, Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari in his annual address to the parliament expressed sorrow over the killing of his two political associates and vowed to fight the Islamic jihadists. "We will fight the militants to the finish", he said. "With the United States we remain committed to building a long term partnership based on mutual respect and sovereign equality", he added.