Obama, Cameron united in foreign arena

WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron Wednesday reaffirmed their countries' strategies for Afghanistan, Iran and Syria.

During a joint news conference in the White House's Rose Garden, Obama called their meeting "a very good discussion." Cameron said they "made important progress on four vital areas: Afghanistan, Syria, Iran and economic growth.

The U.S. president said the weekend incident in which a U.S. soldier is accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians is "a reminder that this continues to be a very difficult mission."

"What's also undeniable, though -- and what we can never forget -- is that our forces are making very real progress: dismantling al-Qaida; breaking the Taliban's momentum; and training Afghan forces so that they can take the lead and our troops can come home," Obama said.

"Today, the prime minister and I reaffirmed the transition plan that we agreed to with our coalition partners in Lisbon.

"We're going to complete this mission, and we're going to do it responsibly."

Cameron said the goal in Afghanistan is to eliminate safe havens for al-Qaida "to launch attacks against us."

"We won't build a perfect Afghanistan, although let's be clear, we are making some tangible progress with more markets open, more health centers working, more children going to school, more people able to achieve a basic standard of living and security," Cameron said.

Obama said the United States and Britain will do what they can to help Afghan President Hamid Karzai achieve political reconciliation in the war-torn country.

"Ultimately, it's going to be up to the Afghans to work together to try to arrive at a path to peace," he said. "And we can't be naive about the difficulties that are going to be involved in getting there."

Cameron said the situation in Afghanistan is "considerably improved" from two or three years ago.

Obama said the two leaders remain like-minded in seeking to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear military capability.

"On this we are fully united," the U.S. president said. "We are determined to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. We believe there is still time and space to pursue a diplomatic solution, and we're going to keep coordinating closely with our P5-plus-1 partners.

"At the same time, we're going to keep up the pressure, with the strongest U.S. sanctions to date and the European Union preparing to impose an embargo on Iranian oil. Tehran must understand that it cannot escape or evade the choice before it -- meet your international obligations or face the consequences."

Cameron called Obama's stance on Iran a "tough, reasonable approach" that "has united the world behind unprecedented sanctions pressure on Iran."

"Now, we are serious about the talks that are set to resume, but the regime has to meet its international obligations," the British leader said. "If it refuses to do so, then Britain and America, along with our international partners, will continue to increase the political and economic pressure to achieve a peaceful outcome to this crisis. The president and I have said nothing is off the table. That is essential for the safety of the region and the wider world."

Obama said the sanctions "are going to begin to bite even harder this summer" and Iran must realize "the window for solving this issue diplomatically is shrinking."

Regarding the "horrific violence" playing out in Syria, Obama said efforts would remain focused on providing humanitarian aid to Syrians and exerting pressure through diplomacy and sanctions to get President Bashar Assad to relinquish power.

Cameron said Britain has pledged an addition 2 million pounds ($3.1 million) in food and medical care for Syria.

"Above all, we must do everything we can to achieve a political transition that will stop the killing," Cameron said.

"But if Assad continues, then civil war or revolution is the inevitable consequence."

Cameron said Russia should join in the effort to realize "it's not in their interest to have this bloodied, broken, brutal regime butchering people nightly on the television screens."

"The irony is that people in Syria often felt that the Russians were their friends, and many in the West they were more suspicious of," Cameron said. "Now they can see people in the West wanting to help them, raising their issues, calling for the world to act on their problems. And we need to make sure that Russia joins with that."

Obama said that while "our natural instinct is to act" in response to the violence seen on television, "it's very important for us to make sure that we have thought through all of our actions before we take those steps" to avoid a "hard landing that results in civil war and, potentially, even more deaths."

Militarily, Obama said the two countries will begin implementing a a "long-awaited" defense trade treaty.

"This will put advanced technologies in the hands of our troops, and it will mean more jobs for workers in both our countries," Obama said. "And we're moving ahead with our joint initiative to care for our men and women in uniform."

The two leaders also said they will continue cooperating in efforts to revitalize the countries' economies and pledged to continue efforts to relieve famine in Africa.