News
Friday, June 03, 2011
‘Dangerous’ to abandon Pakistan: Mullen
* US military chief says Pakistan needs space to sort out internal problems
* Pakistan has ordered ‘a very significant cutback’ in number of US forces training its military
WASHINGTON: US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen said on Thursday that Pakistan needed space to sort out internal problems and that it would be dangerous for the United States to abandon the troubled war partner.
Mullen said that Pakistan had been going through “a great deal of introspection” in the month since US forces killed the world’s most wanted man Osama bin Laden in a secret raid near the country’s top military academy.
“I think we need to give them a little time and space to do that. And that makes all the sense in the world to me,” Mullen told a breakfast with reporters.
“I think the worst thing we could do would be cut them off,” he said.
If the US distanced itself from Pakistan, “10 years from now, 20 years from now, we go back and it’s much more intense and it’s much more dangerous”, he said.
“We’re just not living in a world where we can afford to be unengaged in a place like this,” he said.
A number of US lawmakers have called into question the billions of dollars in assistance to Pakistan, accusing the country of playing a double game of seeking foreign money while keeping ties to extremists.
But Mullen acknowledged that Pakistan has ordered “a very significant cutback” in the number of US forces who are training its military.
While some US forces were still on the ground, Mullen said that the Pakistani military needed first to complete its internal debate on the relationship with the US.
“They’re going to have to finish that before we get back to a point where we’re doing any kind of significant training,” Mullen said.
As the Obama administration awaits the Pentagon’s recommendation on troop cuts in Afghanistan, military leaders warned on Thursday that the reduction must not jeopardise the progress made there in the past year. Gen David Petraeus has not yet made his recommendation on the widely expected withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. But it will come in the next few weeks and move rapidly after that, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said on Thursday.
Adm Mike Mullen warned that while no one knows yet how deep the initial cut will be, it must not erode the progress that troops have made in the past year.
Some lawmakers have suggested that the killing of Osama bin Laden last month should result in a more rapid end to the US involvement in the protracted war. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk