TORONTO — President Barack Obama on Sunday defended his war strategy and said the United States would assist the Afghans “for a long time to come.”
“I don’t have a crystal ball,” Obama said when asked about a five-year Afghanistan exit strategy endorsed Saturday by the Group of Eight major industrial democracies.
He contended America would be less secure if al-Qaeda still could be housed in Afghanistan.
Obama also issued a warning to North Korea, saying its alleged sinking of a South Korean warship was “belligerent behavior that is unacceptable” to the international community. Forty-six South Korean sailors died in the March incident.
Obama told reporters bluntly that he hoped Chinese President Hu Jintao would recognize that North Korea crossed a line in the warship sinking. Obama said he wants the U.N. Security Council to produce a “crystal-clear acknowledgment” of the North’s action.
He also emphasized the importance of China carrying through on its pledge to introduce more flexibility in how it manages its currency, the yuan. American manufacturers blame China’s currency management for the loss of millions of jobs because it keeps the cost of Chinese- made products artificially low.
