Obama vows to hunt down terrorists from Pak to Paris, seeks new powers

US President Barack Obama has vowed to relentlessly hunt down terrorists from Pakistan to the streets of Paris and called on the Congress to approve new war powers against Islamic State militants and not rush into fresh sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear programme.

“We stand united with people around the world who’ve been targeted by terrorists — from a school in Pakistan to the streets of Paris,” Obama said in the annual State of the Union Address, days ahead of his visit to India.
“We will continue to hunt down terrorists and dismantle their networks, and we reserve the right to act unilaterally, as we’ve done relentlessly since I took office to take out terrorists who pose a direct threat to us and our allies,” the US President said. At the same time, he said the US had learnt lessons from its war against terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Instead of Americans patrolling the valleys of Afghanistan, we’ve trained their security forces, who’ve now taken the lead, and we’ve honoured our troops’ sacrifice by supporting that country’s first democratic transition,” he said.

“Instead of sending large ground forces overseas, we’re partnering with nations from South Asia to North Africa to deny safe haven to terrorists who threaten America,” he added.
Obama said that US military leadership in Iraq and Syria is stopping the Islamic State’s advance and asked lawmakers to “show the world that we are united in this mission” by passing a resolution to authorise the use of force against the militant group that holds a large swathe of Iraq and Syria under its control as a self-declared caliphate.
The President asked the Congress the pass the legislation that the USneeds to better meet the evolving threat of cyber-attacks.