Town Hall Debate - Pakistan: Should the U.S. pursue al-Qa...

Question: Should the United States respect Pakistani sovereignty and

not pursue al Qaeda terrorists who maintain bases there, or should we

ignore their borders and pursue our enemies, like we did in Cambodia

during the Vietnam War?

SEN. OBAMA: Well, Katie, it's a terrific question.

And we have a difficult situation in Pakistan. I believe that

part of the reason we have a difficult situation is because we made a

bad judgment going into Iraq in the first place when we hadn't

finished the job of hunting down bin Laden and crushing al Qaeda.

So what happened was we got distracted, we diverted resources, and

ultimately bin Laden escaped, set up base camps in the mountains of

Pakistan in the northwest provinces there.

They are now raiding our troops in Afghanistan, destabilizing the

situation. They're stronger now than at any time since 2001. And

that's why I think it's so important for us to reverse course because

that's the central front on terrorism. They are plotting to kill

Americans right now. As Secretary Gates, the Defense secretary, said,

the war against terrorism began in that region, and that's where it

will end.

So part of the reason I think it's so important for us to end the

war in Iraq is to be able to get more troops into Afghanistan, put

more pressure on the Afghan government to do what it needs to do,

eliminate some of the drug trafficking that's funding terrorism.

But I do believe that we have to change our policies with

Pakistan. We can't coddle, as we did, a dictator, give him billions

of dollars, and then he's making peace treaties with the Taliban and

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