Strategisk bør USA satse på India, som en demokratisk stormakt og motvekt til Kina. Men det er vanskelig å flagge alliansen for tydelig før jobben er gjort i Afghanistan og Pakistan.
Obama vil tirsdag neste uke kunngjøre at USA sender 34.000 soldater til Afghanistan.
Obama har ikke lyttet til de i det demokratiske partiet som ønsker å trappe ned og trekke seg ut. En slik mulighet finnes ikke.
“After eight years, some of those years in which we did not have, I think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done, it is my intention to finish the job,” Mr Obama said yesterday at a press conference with Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister.
“It is in our strategic interests, in our national security interest, to make sure that al-Qaeda and its extremist allies cannot operate effectively in those areas. We are going to dismantle and degrade their capabilities and ultimately dismantle and destroy their networks.”
Although Mr Obama declined to talk about numbers, Pentagon officials have been told to draw up plans for sending 34,000 more troops. Mr Obama is also expected to announce an increase in civilian presence and to outline an “exit strategy” involving handing over military authority to the Afghan government.