Obama, Cameron: Afghan War Must Show Progress
President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron said Saturday that the troubled Afghanistan war must show progress this year.
The two leaders, concluding their first meeting since the conservative British leader took power last month with a coalition government, said their nations have the right strategy in Afghanistan.
"This period that we are in is going to be critical," Mr. Obama said.
Added Cameron: "We're giving it everything we can to get it right this year."
With a resurgent Taliban and major U.S.-led offensives planned, the nine-year-old war is considered at a tipping point.
Mr. Obama began his day by concluding a summit of the leading eight industrial democracies at a resort in Canada's forested Muskoka lakes region, then flew to Toronto for a second, expanded summit of the so-called Group of 20 nations. Those larger meetings, mostly being held on Sunday, were getting underway with a dinner.
In between, Mr. Obama was meeting with key foreign counterparts one by one on the sidelines, including Cameron, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak and Chinese President Hu Jintao.
The meeting between Mr. Obama and Cameron was given a collegial feel after the president gave his British ally a ride back to Toronto on his specially outfitted presidential helicopter.
They were expected to address the difficulties that the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has introduced into the American-British relationship. BP, a British-based company, has come under fierce criticism from Mr. Obama and others in the U.S. since a rig it was leasing exploded on April 20, causing the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
Although the oil continues to gush into the water, deepening the crisis, neither leader mentioned the topic when the two briefly addressed reporters after their hourlong session. And they took no questions, although most that were shouted at them concerned the BP catastrophe.