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Obama for increase in non-military aid for Pakistan

WASHINGTON: U.S. presidential frontrunner Senator Barack Obama pledged support for Pakistan’s democratic government through a combination of U.S. socio-economic and security assistance as he addressed foreign policy issues just four days from the election.

“Now you have got a fledging democratic government. We have to support their efforts to democratize,” the Democratic White House hopeful told CNN in an interview.

“That means, by the way, not just providing military aid. It means, also, helping them to provide, you know, concrete solutions to the—the poverty and lack of education that exists in Pakistan. So, I want to increase non-military aid to Pakistan,” Obama added ahead of November 4 election.

Obama told the channel that he was concerned about stability of the country in view of al-Qaeda going after the new leadership and criticized the U.S. support for former president Gen. Pervez Musharraf in previous years.

“Well, I’m concerned about it. This was one of the problems with our previous strategy. There was a lot of resentment that built up as a consequence of our support of President Musharraf there, who had squelched democracy.”

“But we also have to help make the case that the biggest threat to Pakistan right now is not India. It’s actually militants within their own borders.

“And, if we can get them to refocus on that, then that’s going to be critical to our success, not just in stabilizing Pakistan, but also in finishing the job in Afghanistan.”

McCain promises to overcome Obama lead

WASHINGTON: With four days to the presidential election, Republican John McCain intensified his underdog message in must-win Ohio on Friday, trailing in the polls but promising “we're coming back'' in the race against front-running Democrat Barack Obama.

Obama has opened his lead in the polls by relentlessly linking his opponent to the unpopular President George W. Bush, a fellow Republican who is heavily blamed for the U.S. financial crisis, and whom voters perceive as the better choice to turn around the economy.

A new poll showed Obama leading McCain among all likely voters, 51 percent to 43 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The survey found, however, that one in seven or 14 percent can't decide, or back a candidate but might switch.

Obama on Friday told supporters in Iowa to expect McCain's campaign to end in a crescendo of attacks on him. “More of the slash and burn, say-anything, do-anything politics that's calculated to divide and distract; to tear us apart instead of bringing us together,'' Obama told 25,000 in Des Moines.

The Democrat said he admired a presidential candidate who said in2000, “I will not take the low road to the highest office in this land.''

“Those words were spoken eight years ago by my opponent, John McCain,'' Obama said. ``But the high road didn't lead him to the White House then, so this time, he decided to take a different route.''

Meanwhile, McCain said in a morning interview with ABC television Friday, McCain charged that Obama's economic policies were far to the left of average Americans.

“We're going to fight it out on the economic grounds,'' McCain said

Obama offers Afghans hope amid despair

KABUL: Afghans are backing Barack Obama for US president in the hope he will rescue them from an ever-deadly extremist Islamic insurgency wracking their nation and dashing hopes for a better future.

The Democrat's pledges to strike militant bases in Pakistan, boost US troop levels and return the focus of the US "war on terror" to this region have outshone any impression Republican John McCain might have made.

"We like Obama because in his first speech he said he would defeat our enemies in Pakistan, the Taliban in Pakistan, that he will attack terrorists," said a Kabul money changer who would only give his name as Emal.

The 30-year-old said he knew little of McCain or his plans.

Afghans acknowledge that any new US president is not going to mean a radical departure from Washington's plans for Afghanistan.

But some believe McCain would be just too much like the outgoing President George W. Bush.

"He is just as old as Bush," said Masihullah Amin, 32, the owner of a successful construction company in Kabul. "The current Bush policy in Afghanistan seems to me a failed policy."

He said Obama was "from the young generation and he has a young mind".

"He is decisive and decisions will bring solutions for the current situation in Afghanistan," he told media.