US President Barack Obama, who announced to send 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, has said the Afghan problem can not be resolved by military alone as the war-torn country needs both diplomacy and development
to get out of it.
"I am absolutely convinced that you cannot solve the problem of Afghanistan, the Taliban, the spread of extremism
in that region solely through military means," Obama said in an interview Tuesday to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
"We're going to have to use diplomacy, we're going to have to use development," said Obama, who makes his first
overseas trip as the US President to Canada tomorrow.
Canada is a key partner of the US in Afghanistan as it has deployed thousands of troops in the Southern province of
that country.
Obama hoped that during his conversations with the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper both the leaders would
end up seeing the importance of a comprehensive strategy.
There are a lot of concerns that the conflict has lasted quite a long time now and actually appears to be deteriorating at
this point, he said.
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