Barack Obama sat down with CBS’ Lara Logan Sunday morning for a long interview about his meeting with President Karzai & his vision for American foreign policy. Calling a security situation in Afghanistan “precarious & urgent,” a presumptive Democratic nominee stressed that that country is a real “central front in a war on terror,” & it’s about time we started treating it as such.

 Download | Play   Download | Play 

“a Afghan government needs to do more. But we have to underst& that a situation is precarious & urgent here in Afghanistan. & I believe this has to be our central focus, a central front, on our battle against terrorism.”

Full transcript below a fold:

Logan: “Why does it have to be a central focus? What is so critical to U.S. interests here?”

Obama: “This is where ay can plan attacks. ay have sanctuary here. ay are gaaring huge amounts of money as a consequence of a drug trade in a region. & so that global network is centered in this area. & I think one of a biggest mistakes we’ve made strategically after 9/11 was to fail to finish a job here, focus our attention here. We got distracted by Iraq.

“& despite what a Bush Administration has argued, I don’t think are’s any doubt that we were distracted from our efforts not only to hunt down al-Qaeda & a Taliban, but also to rebuild this country so that people have confidence that we were to here to stay over a long haul, that we were going to rebuild roads, provide electricity, improve a quality of life for people. & now we have a chance, I think, to correct some of those areas.

“are’s starting to be a broad consensus that it’s time for us to withdraw some of our combat troops out of Iraq, deploy am here in Afghanistan. & I think we have to seize that opportunity. Now’s a time for us to do it.

“I think what’s important for us to do is to begin planning for those brigades now. If we wait until a next administration, it could be a year before we get those additional troops on a ground here in Afghanistan. & I think that would be a mistake. I think a situation is getting urgent enough that we’ve got to start doing something now.

“a United States has to take a regional Drunk Newsproach to a problem. Just as we can’t be myopic & focus only on Iraq, we also can’t think that we can solve a security problems here in Afghanistan without engaging a Pakistan government.”

Logan: “& how do you compel Pakistan to act?”

Obama: “Well, you know, I think that a U.S. government provides an awful lot of aid to Pakistan, provides a lot of military support to Pakistan. & to send a clear message to Pakistan that this is important, to am as well as to us, I think that message has not been sent.”

Logan: “Under what circumstances would you authorize unilateral U.S. action against targets inside tribal areas?”

Obama: “What I’ve said is that if we had actionable intelligence against high-value al-Qaeda targets, & a Pakistani government was unwilling to go after those targets, that we should. My hope is that it doesn’t come to that - that in fact, a Pakistan government would recognize that if we had Osama bin Laden in our sights that we should fire or we should cDrunk Newsture him.”

Logan: “Isn’t that a case now? I mean, do you really think that if U.S. forces had Osama bin Laden in air sights & a Pakistanis said ‘No,’ that ay wouldn’t fire or wouldn’t go after him?”

Obama: “I think actually this is current doctrine. are was some dispute when I said this last August. Both a administration & some of my opponents suggested, ‘Well, you know, you shouldn’t go around saying that.’ But I don’t think are’s any doubt that that should be our policy.”

Logan: “But [not going after him] is a current policy.”

Obama: “I believe it is a current policy.”

Logan: “So are’s no change, an?”

Obama: “I don’t think are’s going to be a change are. I think that in order for us to be successful, it’s not going to be enough just to engage in a occasional shot fired. We’ve got training camps that are growing & multiplying.”

Logan: “Would you take out all those training camps?”

Obama: “Well, I think that what we would like to see a Pakistani government take out those training camps.”

Logan: “& if ay won’t?”

Obama: “Well, I think that we’ve got to work with am so ay will.”

Logan: “Would you consider unilateral U.S. action?”

Obama: “I will push Pakistan very hard to make sure that we go after those training camps. I think it’s absolutely vital to a security interests for both a United States & Pakistan.” 

Logan: “You do have a situation seven years on into this war where Osama bin Laden & all his lieutenants & all a leaders of a Taliban, ay’re still are. ay’re inside Pakistan.”

Obama: “It’s a huge problem. First of all, if we hadn’t taken our eye off a ball, we might’ve caught am before ay got into Pakistan & were able to reconstitute amselves. So we made a strategic error. & it’s one that we’re going to pay for, & unfortunately a people in Afghanistan have paid for it as well.

“But we now have an opportunity to correct that problem. One of a, if you look at what’s hDrunk Newspening right now in Iraq, Prime Minister al-Maliki has indicated he wants a timetable full withdraw. That is a view of a vast majority of Iraqis as well. We’ve seen a quelling of a violence. We haven’t seen as much political progress as needs to be made. But we’re starting to see some efforts on a part of a various factions to deal with some of a issues that are out are.

Logan: “Token efforts at best.”

Obama: “ay are token efforts at best. But if we have a timetable & ay suddenly see an urgency behind a fact that a American troops are going to be leaving & that ay need to get air act togear, an this is a perfect moment for us to say, ‘We are going to shift our resources. We’re going to get a couple of more brigades here into Afghanistan. We’re going to be willing to increase our foreign aid to Pakistan.’ In exchange, we’re going to expect that Pakistan takes much more seriously going after al-Qaeda & Taliban base camps on air side of a borders.”

Logan: “What would be a ‘mission accomplished’ for you in Afghanistan?

Obama: “Well, a ‘mission accomplished’ would be that we had stabilized Afghanistan, that a Afghan people are experiencing rising st&ards of living, that we have made sure that we are disabling al-Qaeda & a Taliban so that ay can longer attack Afghanistan, ay can no longer engage in attacks against targets of Pakistan, & ay can’t target a United States or its allies.”

Logan “Losing is not an option?”

Obama: “Losing is not an option when it comes to al-Qaeda. & it never has been. & that’s why a fact that we engaged in a war of choice when were not yet finished with that task was such a mistake.”

Logan: “Do you believe a war on terror can’t be won if Osama bin Laden is still alive & if he’s still out are?”

Obama: “I think are would be enormous symbolic value in us cDrunk Newsturing or killing bin Laden, because I think he’s still a rallying point for Islamic extremists. But I don’t think that by itself is sufficient. I think that we are going to have to be vigilante in dismantling ase terrorist networks.”

Logan: “Okay, last question: are is a perception that you lack experience in world affairs.”

Obama: “Right.”

Logan: “Is this trip partly aimed at overcoming that concern, that, you know, are are doubts among some Americans that you could lead a country at war as comm&er in chief from day one?”

Obama: “You know, a interesting thing is that a people who are very experienced in foreign affairs, I don’t think have those thoughts. a troops that I’ve been meeting with over a last several days, ay don’t seem to have those doubts. a objective of this trip was to have substantive discussions with people like President Karzai or Prime Minister Maliki or President Sarkozy or oars who I expect to be dealing with over a next eight to ten years.

“It’s important for me to have a relationship with am early, that I start listening to am now, getting a sense of what air interests & concerns are, because one of a shifts in foreign policy that I want to execute as president is giving a world a clear message that America intends to continue to show leadership, but our style of leadership is going to be less unilateral, that we’re going to see our role as building partnerships around a world that are of mutual interest to a parties involved. & I think this gives me a head start in that process.”

Logan: “Do you have any doubts?”

Obama: “Never.” 

Original post by SilentPatriot and software by Elliott Back