Obama takes measured approach to Afghanistan, Pakistan

By Steve Holland - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There was no backslapping from President Barack Obama for the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday, two countries that represent perhaps the United States' most urgent foreign policy headache.

Obama took a pragmatic, arms-length approach to dealing with both Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, stressing support for their democratically elected governments but avoiding becoming wrapped up in personalities.

It is a strategy born in part from having seen that personalities had limits in President George W. Bush's friendships with Karzai and Zardari's predecessor, Pervez Musharraf.

Gone are the weekly videoconferences with Karzai that Bush held. And the Obama administration is not limiting its Pakistani contacts to Zardari, the widower of slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. It is also talking to opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, among others.

After their meeting at the White House on Wednesday, Obama was careful to stick to diplomatic language in his message across that both the Afghan and Pakistani presidents need to do more to confront the threat posed by the Taliban and al Qaeda.

"I'm pleased that these two men, elected leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, fully appreciate the seriousness of the threat that we face and have reaffirmed their commitment to confronting it," Obama said as both Karzai and Zardari stood silently at his side.

Casting a cloud over the talks were the deaths of dozens of Afghan civilians, apparently from U.S.-led airstrikes.

Karzai was once the darling of Washington's foreign policy establishment for daring to lead turbulent post-September 11 Afghanistan.