Afghanistan and Pakistan: Examining the Obama Administration's Eurasian Strategy

As concern about troop numbers in Afghanistan grows in Washington, the Obama administration remains optimistic that its strategy can, over the long-term, foster important economic, political, and military gains in South and Central Asia.

Robert O. Blake, Jr., the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, examined the administration's strategy in detail during a September 9 appearance at the School of Advanced International Studies of The Johns Hopkins University, in Washington, DC.

Acknowledging that "we have a long, long way to go," Blake argued that with "our strategy, the results will start to be seen, and so it's a little bit early to start to make judgments about, for example, the strategy in Afghanistan."

Blake emphasized that the Obama administration is maintaining many of the policy goals in South and Central Asia established by the preceding Republican administration. But Obama was committed to using different means to achieve the same ends, Blake added.

The current administration shares the objective of developing "sovereign, stable, democratic nations" in the region that are "integrated into the world economy and cooperating not only with one another, but also with the United States and all of our partners," Blake stated.

"We also want to revive the ancient trade and cultural connections between South and Central Asia, and to help create new links, particularly in the areas of trade, transport, energy and communications," continued Blake.

While the goals have stayed largely the same, the Obama administration is taking a more systematic approach toward the region. In particular, Washington is now treating Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single theater of operations with "immense strategic importance" for global security, Blake said. Although the Obama team recognizes that "Afghanistan and Pakistan are two distinct countries," he added, it has concluded that "we cannot succeed in either Afghanistan or Pakistan without stability in both."

Reaffirming the "smart power" paradigm popularized by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other members of the current administration, Blake insisted that, "to eliminate the safe havens of extremism and terrorism in both countries, we must use all of the tools available to the international community -- military, diplomatic, and development." The assistant secretary called this approach "holistic" since it addressed "both short- and long-term challenges through programs in education, agriculture and reliable energy."

Blake acknowledged problems with the Afghan presidential elections, which have been marred by widespread evidence of fraud. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The success of the Obama administration's strategy required that the ballot "be seen as credible and inclusive." For this reason, "the United States and others believe there needs to be a rigorous vetting of all of the allegations of fraud," Blake said. At the same time, he noted that balloting took place "under extraordinarily complex circumstances" and that, "no one expected these elections to be perfect."

When pressed later by questioners about how the Obama administration planned to address widespread allegations of vote-rigging, Blake responded that "the United States, like every other country, is waiting to hear the [final] results . . . before we make any determination about the next step."

In examining conditions in Pakistan, Blake sounded more concerned about the situation than other US official have seemed in recent weeks. "It is difficult to imagine a country of such strategic importance -- and a key ally of the United States -- that faces a more daunting series of problems." According to Blake, Pakistan confronts the triple challenge of experiencing a difficult democratization process while at the same time trying to thwart a Taliban insurgency in the country's tribal areas and confronting an economic mess.

Blake stressed that Washington had "a long-term commitment" to help Pakistan cope with its problems. "President Obama has requested a significant increase in economic assistance and security assistance to build up Pakistan's counter-insurgency capabilities so we can help Pakistan to defeat extremism, but also to rebuild its economy and establish strong governing institutions," Blake explained. "A stable, constitutional, civilian-led government that provides for the needs of its people by delivering justice, education, health care, and economic opportunities," he added, "will be instrumental in achieving these goals."

When asked about how the Obama administration's approach differed from that of its predecessor, Blake said that "we have a targeted, very much a bottom-up approach" with "a much bigger focus on economic assistance." Instead of focusing on military aid, the Obama administration is also striving to bolster governmental capacity that would "improve services to the people like education." Instead of dealing mostly with the government elite in Islamabad, Blake added that "we're trying to work in areas where we know militants are active, and try[ing] to directly address some of the grievances that give rise to some of the militancy in those regions."

Richard Weitz is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC.