Mr Obama says he wants America to re-engage with the Middle East
US President Barack Obama is heading to the Middle East on a visit aimed at increasing US engagement with the Islamic world.
Mr Obama travels first to Saudi Arabia and then to Egypt, where he will make a keynote speech on ties with the region.
He says he wants to open dialogue with Muslims and overcome misapprehensions on both sides. He also wants to revive Middle East peace negotiations.
It is his first Middle East visit since taking office.
Barack Obama's goal is to improve perceptions of the US and to push for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, says BBC Diplomatic Correspondent Jonathan Marcus.
In the process he wants to make other US strategic goals in the region - like stability in Iraq and the containment of Iran - easier to achieve.
OBAMA'S TOUR
3 June: Saudi Arabia - talks with King Abdullah on Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations
4 June: Egypt - talks with President Hosni Mubarak, keynote speech at Cairo university
5 June: Germany - meets Chancellor Angela Merkel, visits to Dresden and to Buchenwald concentration camp
6 June: France - meets President Nicolas Sarkozy, attends D-Day events in Normandy
To do this he needs Arab partners and this trip takes in two key nations - Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
bbc
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The Middle East.
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
4.4.09
Obama wrong on Afghanistan, say stop bombing campaign
London, (IRNA): A British campaign group concerned about rising number of civilians killed in war has criticised visiting US President Barack Obama as being wrong in planning to increase the deployment of foreign troops in Afghanistan.
"Stop bombing Afghanistan" said that gaining commitments from European nations to send more troops to Afghanistan will be high on the US agenda at Thursday’s G20 summit in London, convened to tackle the global financial crisis.
“In France, Italy and Germany, polls show that clear majorities believe their governments should not send more forces to Afghanistan, while here in the UK 68% want all British troops withdrawn within 12 months,” said the campaign group, including politicians, leading peace activists, journalists and artists.
In a letter to the Guardian newspaper Wednesday, it pointed out that US-Nato bombing killed well over 500 civilians in Afghanistan last year, according to UK figures and that only 18 per cent back on increase in troops as opposed to 44% who say that force levels should actually be decreased.
“As Obama escalates the war, we urge European leaders to withdraw their forces,” the letter said.
It also urged sympathisers to join a ‘Die-in for Nato's Victims in Afghanistan’ at Britain's military nerve centre in Northwood, north-west London, on May 27, to mark the second anniversary of the US massacre of Afghan civilians in Haji Nabu.
The campaign group is linked with Voices in the Wilderness UK, which has been protesting against Britain and US policy towards Iraq since the imposition of economic sanctions in the mid-1990s and throughout the subsequent 2003 invasion.
Signatories of the letter include Labour MP John McDonnell, award-winning actress Susannah York, vice-president of CND, children’s author Michael Rosen and renowned documentary-maker John Pilger. Source
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"Stop bombing Afghanistan" said that gaining commitments from European nations to send more troops to Afghanistan will be high on the US agenda at Thursday’s G20 summit in London, convened to tackle the global financial crisis.
“In France, Italy and Germany, polls show that clear majorities believe their governments should not send more forces to Afghanistan, while here in the UK 68% want all British troops withdrawn within 12 months,” said the campaign group, including politicians, leading peace activists, journalists and artists.
In a letter to the Guardian newspaper Wednesday, it pointed out that US-Nato bombing killed well over 500 civilians in Afghanistan last year, according to UK figures and that only 18 per cent back on increase in troops as opposed to 44% who say that force levels should actually be decreased.
“As Obama escalates the war, we urge European leaders to withdraw their forces,” the letter said.
It also urged sympathisers to join a ‘Die-in for Nato's Victims in Afghanistan’ at Britain's military nerve centre in Northwood, north-west London, on May 27, to mark the second anniversary of the US massacre of Afghan civilians in Haji Nabu.
The campaign group is linked with Voices in the Wilderness UK, which has been protesting against Britain and US policy towards Iraq since the imposition of economic sanctions in the mid-1990s and throughout the subsequent 2003 invasion.
Signatories of the letter include Labour MP John McDonnell, award-winning actress Susannah York, vice-president of CND, children’s author Michael Rosen and renowned documentary-maker John Pilger. Source
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3.3.09
Three Taliban rivals join forces to fight off America surge
Three rival Pakistani Taliban groups have agreed to form a united front against international forces in Afghanistan in a move likely to intensify the insurgency just as thousands of extra US soldiers begin pouring into the country as part of Barack Obama's surge plan.
The Guardian has learned that three of the most powerful warlords in the region have settled their differences and come together under a grouping calling itself Shura Ittihad-ul-Mujahideen, or Council of United Holy Warriors.
Nato officers fear that the new extremist partnership in Waziristan, Pakistan's tribal area, will significantly increase the cross-border influx of fighters and suicide bombers - a move that could undermine the US president's Afghanistan strategy before it is formulated.
The unity among the militants comes after a call by Mullah Omar, the cleric who leads the Afghan Taliban, telling Pakistani militants to stop fighting at home in order to join the battle to "liberate Afghanistan from the occupation forces".
The Pakistani Taliban movement was split between a powerful group led by the warlord Baitullah Mehsud and his bitter rivals, Maulvi Nazir and Gul Bahadur. While Mehsud has targeted Pakistan itself in a campaign of violence and is accused of being behind the assassination of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Nazir and Bahadur sent men to fight alongside other insurgents in Afghanistan.
Source
The Guardian has learned that three of the most powerful warlords in the region have settled their differences and come together under a grouping calling itself Shura Ittihad-ul-Mujahideen, or Council of United Holy Warriors.
Nato officers fear that the new extremist partnership in Waziristan, Pakistan's tribal area, will significantly increase the cross-border influx of fighters and suicide bombers - a move that could undermine the US president's Afghanistan strategy before it is formulated.
The unity among the militants comes after a call by Mullah Omar, the cleric who leads the Afghan Taliban, telling Pakistani militants to stop fighting at home in order to join the battle to "liberate Afghanistan from the occupation forces".
The Pakistani Taliban movement was split between a powerful group led by the warlord Baitullah Mehsud and his bitter rivals, Maulvi Nazir and Gul Bahadur. While Mehsud has targeted Pakistan itself in a campaign of violence and is accused of being behind the assassination of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Nazir and Bahadur sent men to fight alongside other insurgents in Afghanistan.
Source
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