 Obama vows to work for breakthrough in Mideast peace
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-23 07:30 US presidential contender Barack Obama is vowing to work for a breakthrough in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations "starting from the minute I'm sworn into office". He says he will continue to regard Israel as a valued ally and "that policy is not going to change". Obama told a news conference yesterday in Amman, Jordan, that if elected president, he would also "recognize the legitimate difficulties that the Palestinian people are experiencing". He says recognizing those difficulties is in the interests of both Israelis and Palestinians. Obama said yesterday that security in Iraq has improved and that the United States urgently needs to turn its attention to Afghanistan. "There is security progress, but now we need a political solution" in Iraq, Obama said in the first news conference of his highly publicized trip abroad. Afghanistan is now the "central front in the war against terrorism," he added during the stop in the Jordanian capital. He reiterated his goal of withdrawing combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of becoming president. But he said he would consult with military commanders to determine how many troops to keep in the country to protect diplomatic and humanitarian operations, to train Iraqis and to conduct counterterrorism operations against al-Qaida in Iraq. Agencies  (China Daily 07/23/2008 page12) |
