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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while stressing that US is not interested in staying in Afghanistan, has mentioned that US was in the region for defeating Al Qaeda.
"We're not interested in staying in Afghanistan; we're not interested in any long-term presence there," said Clinton while talking in the NBC programme ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday.
"We want to get Al Qaeda, we want to disrupt, dismantle and defeat those who attacked us, and we want to be able to give the Afghans the tools that they need to be able to defend themselves," Clinton said.
Clinton, while talking on ABC Show, ‘This Week’, had “made it clear” that the US would not be rendering civilian help to Afghan government agencies if it fails to show that the aid is being spent on its intended purposes.
"We believe that President [Hamid] Karzai and his government can do better," Clinton said, adding that President Obama's government was "looking for tangible evidence" that the Karzai government would be more responsive to the needs of the Afghan people.
She has stressed the necessity of Karzai government for eliminating fraud and "demonstrate there's not impunity for those who are corrupt."
Obama is focusing on US security in deciding whether to send up to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, as requested by his commanding general on the ground, Clinton said.
"This is not the prior days when people would come on your show and talk about how we were going to help the Afghans build a modern democracy and build a more functioning state and do all of these wonderful things," Clinton said.
"That could happen, but our primary focus is on the security of the United States of America, how do we protect and defend against future attacks. We do not want to see Afghanistan return to being a safe haven and a staging platform for terrorism as it was before."
While criticizing Bush Administration, she added: "We came to do a mission. Unfortunately, it was not achieved in the last eight years."
"We've made it very clear," Clinton said. "We want to get the people who attacked us."
