U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday stressed on the urgent need for a negotiated settlement to end the bloodshed in Syria, but acknowledged that the task will not be easy.
They made the remarks at a joint press conference in Washington after discussing joint response to the Syrian conflict, shared peace efforts in the Middle East, future roles in Afghanistan, and other global security developments.
The Obama-Cameron talks came just days after the U.S. and Russia agreed to convene an international conference involving representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition to find a political solution to the crisis.
Nevertheless, Obama warned that the ongoing international efforts to find a political settlement to the Syrian conflict might not succeed, saying: "Sometimes once, sort of, the furies have been unleashed in a situation like we're seeing in Syria, it's very hard to put things back together."
"There are going to be enormous challenges in getting a credible process going, even if Russia is involved, because we still have other countries like Iran. And we have non-state actors like Hezbollah that have been actively involved. And frankly, on the other side we've got organizations like al-Nusra that are essentially affiliated to al-Qaeda. All that makes a combustible mix," the U.S. President said.
In turn, Cameron emphasized on the urgent need to end the bloodshed in Syria, and said: "It's happening on our watch. There is now, I believe, common ground between the U.S., UK, Russia and many others. Whatever our differences, we have the same aim: a stable, inclusive and peaceful Syria free from the scourge of extremism."
Stressing on the need to support the Syrian rebels in their efforts to overthrow the Assad regime, Cameron stressed: "If we don't help the Syrian Opposition — who we do recognize as being legitimate, who have signed up to a statement about the future for Syria that is democratic, that respects the rights of minorities, then we shouldn't be surprised if the extremist elements grow."
Incidentally, Britain has already committed itself to supply the Syrian rebels with non-lethal equipment as well as armored vehicles and body armor. Also, London, along with Paris, has been attempting to persuade other EU member-states to amend an EU arms embargo on Syria to allow the supply of arms to the rebels.
Obama said he and Cameron also discussed plans to support the Afghan government after the withdrawal of all NATO combat troops from the country by December, 2014 and commented on the British PM's "efforts to encourage greater dialogue between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is critical to a regional security."
On the two nation's "shared commitment" to Middle East peace, Obama said he and Cameron "reaffirmed our support for democratic transitions in the Middle East and North Africa, including the economic reforms that have to go along with political reforms."
Obama said he also updated the British leader about U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's ongoing efforts to convince the Israelis and Palestinians to revive their stalled peace negotiations and added that he and Cameron also agreed to keep up the pressure on Tehran for its continued failure to abide by its nuclear obligations.
Obama also endorsed Cameron's Europe strategy in the wake of rebellion from within his Conservative Party on whether to pull Britain out of the EU, saying: "David's basic point that you probably want to see if you can fix what's broken in a very important relationship before you break it off makes some sense to me."
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