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Tuesday, December 13, 2011
US wants to rebuild military, intel ties with Pakistan: Munter
* US envoy to Pakistan says NATO attack not intentional, mechanism to stop that incident failed
ISLAMABAD: United States Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter on Monday said that the Mohmand Agency incident was a setback for the Pak-US relations and the United States wanted to rebuild cooperation in areas of economy, military and intelligence-sharing.
In an interview to a private television channel, he said Mohmand Agency incident happened when the two countries were having military and intelligence cooperation and they were collaborating on economic matters. He said that the events of November 26 were a real tragedy and President Obama called President Zardari, Secretary Hillary Clinton called Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and the US military leadership contacted the Pakistani Army chief to share their sorrow.
“In fact when people die, whether they are Pakistanis or Americans, it is too many and it was a tragedy that it happened. We have really tried to make it clear how sorrowful we are about this event. We feel the pain of the Pakistani people,” he added.
Munter said that the US had pledged full investigation of the incident and “in the coming days, most of all we want to make sure that we learn from this and this never happens again.”
He said the NATO attack was not intentional and the mechanism which should have stopped the incident failed on that day.
“The mechanism that should have prevented this failed. We need to work together to make sure that mechanisms are in place and this should not happen again.”
Munter said it was not true that there was no investigation into the case of Raymond Davis and said there was a group of officials of Department of Justice who were following up as promised by Senator John Kerry and by him.
“These officials have come to Pakistan and they are talking to Pakistani officials to do their best to convince the Pakistani people that we are following up as we promised,” he added.
When asked to respond to continuing halt of NATO supplies, Munter said he was hopeful that the stoppage would not last. “As we work through this tragic incident, which should never have happened, we find a way to work together and this stoppage would not be necessary.” He said US, Pakistan and all of their friends were trying to fight militants to protect their way of life and values that they share and they need to work together to fight them.
“We are in constant contact with Pakistan people to find out how we can work together in the fight against militants and how you understand our sorrow about this tragedy.” The ambassador said the US Central Command had formed a commission led by Brigadier General Clarke to investigate the NATO attack. “We do not want to judge what he has found and there is difference of opinion about what happened that day. We do not want to judge until that investigation is finished and when that investigation is finished we want to be able to share it with you,” he remarked when asked why the US is not offering an apology.
To a question, he said there are two investigations, one being run by NATO and the other by the US Central Command into the Mohmand Agency incident and they will share information and findings with Pakistan.
He stressed that the NATO attack on Pakistani troops in Mohmand Agency was not deliberate and even President Obama and General Dempsey told this to their Pakistani counterparts.
“We are terribly distressed. It should not have happened it was not done on purpose.”
The ambassador said the pull out of Pakistani troops from the liaison centres will not make things easy between Pakistan and US but they understand the anger of Pakistani people. He said plots and conspiracies could be found about the United States but the fact was that US wanted a stable and peaceful Afghanistan and Pakistan and the countries wanted an honourable end to the war.
“We have the same goals. Although there is anger on both sides, we share the same goals. We really have to work together to make this region peaceful, stable and prosperous,” he added. Munter said memo case is an internal matter of Pakistan and they leave it to the Pakistani authorities and “we hope that they will do the right thing”. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk