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Saturday, June 18, 2011
Pak army needs time for introspection: US
* Mullen, Gates say bin Laden raid caused much consternation among Pakistani leadership
* Say US must keep working to salvage its relationship with Pakistan
WASHINGTON: The Pakistani military’s is going through a phase of introspection based on recent events, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Thursday.
Speaking at a Pentagon press conference, Mullen said that the Osama bin Laden raid caused much consternation among the Pakistan leadership, and they must be given time to work through it. The US must keep working to salvage its relationship with Pakistan in order to preserve security in the region and protect against potential proliferation of that country’s nuclear weapons, outgoing Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Mullen said on Thursday.
Amid escalating tensions with Islamabad, Capitol Hill lawmakers have complained that Pakistan is not doing its part to go after terrorists within its borders, and they have pressed for cuts in US aid to the country. But on Thursday, Mullen warned that the US cannot afford to let its relationship with a crucial nuclear-armed country deteriorate.
“Those things that I fear in the future,” Mullen told Pentagon reporters, are “the proliferation of that technology, and it’s the opportunity and the potential that it could fall into the hands of terrorists, many of whom are alive and well and seek that in that region.” Anger and frustration with Islamabad has escalated in recent days amid reports that Pakistani intelligence officials arrested informants who helped the US in its May 2 raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Gates and Mullen said the mutual dependence is too strong for either country to end relations with the other. “It is complicated, but as... I’ve said often before, we need each other, and we need each other more than just in the context of Afghanistan,” Gates said. “Pakistan is an important player in terms of regional stability and in terms of Central Asia. And so my view is that this is a relationship where we just need to keep working at it.”
Mullen said the relationship is still critical, and he will continue to work with Pakistani Army Chief of Staff General Ashfaq Kayani. “What the Pakistani military’s going through right now, obviously is considerable introspection based on recent events,” Mullen said. “That makes a lot of sense to me. They’ve got some questions. I know General Kayani well enough to know (that) what he cares about the most is not himself: What he cares about the most is his institution.” Pakistan is a partner against terrorists, Gates and Mullen said. They pointed out that Pakistan has 140,000 troops along its border with Afghanistan. The Pakistani military has cleaned South Waziristan and the Swat Valley of the Taliban.
Mullen, who has made repeated trips to Pakistan in an ambitious effort to build relations, said he has delivered no message to Islamabad warning that aid will be cut unless cooperation improves. And Gates said that US and Pakistan need one another, and that the lines of communication must stay open. Both he and Mullen repeated assertions that the bin Laden raid caused much consternation among the Pakistan leadership, and they must be given time to work through it. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk