US war strategy should focus on Pakistan: Senator

Senator Dick Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. - AP photo

WASHINGTON: The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is questioning whether the United States is focusing on the right country in its war against the Taliban and the al-Qaida terrorist network.
Senator Dick Lugar said Wednesday the US risks spending billions of dollars fighting in strategically less important Afghanistan while militants are becoming more secure in their havens across the border in nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Lugar prepared the remarks for a Senate hearing where lawmakers will hear testimony from Gen. David Petraeus, overall commander for the Mideast region, and Karl Eikenberry, the US ambassador to Afghanistan.—AP