On his landmark visit to the Peoples Republic of China, the U.S President, Barack Obama stated that, the international terrorist outfit, Al-Qaeda is still very much the greatest threat that the United States faces as of now. The statement comes at a time when the Obama administration is stepping up its pressure on Pakistani authorities to combat the Taliban and Al-Qaeda more rigorously in the FATA region. President Obama gave the statement while touring the city of Shanghai in China as part of his nine days Asian tour.

According to President Obama,

“I continue to believe that the greatest threat to the United States’ security are the terrorist networks like al Qaeda. They have now moved over the border of Afghanistan and are in Pakistan, but they continue to have networks with other extremist organizations in that region and I do believe it is important for us to stabilize Afghanistan.”

Mr. Obama has been strongly criticized in Washington for his strategy on Afghanistan. The United States has been constantly in touch with Islamabad to ensure that the war against the terror outfits such as the Pakistan Taliban and Al-Qaeda, who have been wreaking havoc in Pakistan for a little over a month and have killed more than 300 people with numerous others injured.

Furthermore, President Obama is also experiencing dissatisfaction from the military brass and the regional U.S military commanders in Afghanistan. General Stanley McChrystal, who is the commander of all U.S and NATO forces in Afghanistan had recently requested Washington for 40,000 additional troops to reinforce the current troop strength in Afghanistan. Gen. McChrystal  had warned that, the current troop strength is not sufficient and is unable to fulfill the operational requirements.

Via Reuters.