Obama and Cameron vow common cause in Libya, Afghanistan

May 25, 2011, 14:49 GMT

London - The US and Britain Wednesday vowed to 'turn up the heat' on the regime of Colonel Gaddafi in Libya while reiterating their support for peaceful pro-democracy movements in the Arab world and North Africa.

In wide-ranging talks in London, US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron also discussed the conflict in Afghanistan, the Middle East peace process, counter-terrorism and relations with Pakistan.

At an open-air news conference after the talks, they reaffirmed the 'special and essential' relations between their two countries, which were based on 'shared values and ideals' and were 'stronger than ever.'

Even though they were leaders from different political backgrounds - Obama being a US Democrat and Cameron a British Conservative - they saw 'eye to eye' on many issues, said Obama.

Later Wednesday, Obama was due to address a joint session of both houses of the British parliament at Westminster Hall - becoming the first US president in history to be granted the honour.

The speech is expected to give an 'optimistic' view of future US and Western foreign policy following a decade dominated by the fight against al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism, officials said.

Obama and his wife Michelle are currently on a three-day state visit to Britain. After visiting Ireland, Obama will travel to France for a G8 summit and to Poland later in the week.

Speaking on Libya, Obama and Cameron reiterated their call on Gaddafi to step down, while also promising to step up the campaign against his forces.

Obama said that 'enormous progress' had already been made in Libya, but there would 'not be a let-up' in efforts to protect the civilian population from Gaddafi's attacks.

However, wearing down Gaddafi would be a 'slow' process, which meant that support for the opposition in Libya had to be increased, said Obama. However, he made clear that the deployment of ground forces was not on the agenda.

'David and I both agree that we cannot have boots on the ground in Libya,' said Obama.

Cameron said both men had agreed to 'turn up the heat' on Libya. But he would not be drawn on whether Britain had already decided to deploy attack helicopters in the conflict.

Obama and Cameron pledged their support for peaceful protest movements in the Arab world and North Africa, while urging leaders in the region to facilitate political reform.

It was up to the West to make sure that the Arab uprising were not just 'a moment in history,' but would become a 'turning point in history,' said Cameron.

Both leaders also backed the transition towards a political settlement in Afghanistan, where, according to Obama, NATO forces were 'preparing to turn a corner.'

He and Cameron agreed on the importance of 'beginning the transition to an Afghan lead for security this year and completing that transition by 2014,' he said.

However, both men stressed that it was essential that any political settlement remained an Afghan-led process, and that the Taliban needed to break with al-Qaeda.

Cameron said that the recent killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by US special forces had marked a 'strike at the heart' of international terrorism.

He stressed that it was important to continue close security cooperation with Pakistan, which had suffered 'more than any other country in the world' from terrorism. 'Their enemy is our enemy,' said Cameron.

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