According to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the U.S. has no longer term interests in Afghanistan other than the Taliban. Clinton provided the assurences that once this objective is achieved the U.S. will withdraw.
The largest issue facing the Obama administration is the stability of the Afghan region. The President is still considering different options in light of McChrystal's request for more troops.
In an interview with the ABC News network Secretary Clinton restated that the U.S.'s only goal in Afghanistan is to help the Afghani government help itself and the U.S. is not to be committed beyond this goal.
"We're not interested in staying in Afghanistan. We have no long-term stake there. We want that to be made very clear,"
"We agree that our goal here is to defeat al-Qaeda. That has been a clear goal and a mission from the president ever since he made his commitment of additional troops back in the spring."
Clinton and the Obama Administration have been putting pressure on Afghan President Karzai to better fight corruption and maintain internal security.
"We do not want to see Afghanistan return to being a safe haven and a staging platform for terrorism as it was before." Clinton added.
As this month's re-election of Hamid Karzai after his stepped down demonstrates the road to stability is still to be completed.
Written by Seamus Esparza
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