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Monday, September 19, 2011
Mullen tells Kayani to act against Haqqanis
* Mullen expresses ‘deep concerns about increasing activities’ of Haqqani network
* Two leaders agree that Pak-US ties remained vital to region and that both sides have taken positive steps to improve that relationship over the past few months
* Pledge to continue to find ways to make military-to-military cooperation better
WASHINGTON: US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen has restated his strong desire to see the Pakistani military take action against Haqqani network and their safe havens in North Waziristan, Mullen’s spokesman Captain John Kirby said on Saturday.
The top US and Pakistani military leaders met in Spain to discuss ways to shore up strained ties after a US raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and a spike in violence in Afghanistan, he said.
Mullen and General Ashfaq Kayani sat down for more than two hours of talks late Friday on the sidelines of a NATO conference in Seville, the spokesman added.
“They agreed that the relationship between our two countries remained vital to the region and that both sides had taken positive steps to improve that relationship over the past few months,” Kirby said.
“They also discussed the state of military-to-military cooperation and pledged to continue to find ways to make it better.”
During the meeting, Mullen expressed “deep concerns about the increasing - and increasingly brazen - activities of the Haqqani network” seeking Pakistan Army’s action against them, Kirby said.
It was the first meeting between the pair since the May 2 nighttime military raid in which US Navy Seals, without first notifying Islamabad, killed the al Qaeda leader in the compound in Abbottabad where he had been hiding.
As relations worsened in the aftermath of the raid, Washington announced that it could cut some of the $2.7 billion in military aid it sends to Pakistan.
Islamabad, for its part, ordered as many as 200 US military trainers out of the country in the aftermath of the operation.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has expressed frustration that Islamabad has so far failed to crack down on Haqqani network militants that Washington suspects attacked the US embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul on September 13-14.
The raid was launched by militants firing rocket-propelled grenades at the heavily fortified embassy. At least a half dozen rocket-propelled grenades landed inside the compound, killing 15 people.
US ambassador to Islamabad Cameron Munter said on Saturday that there was evidence linking the Pakistani government with the Taliban-allied Haqqani network blamed for the attack.
“There is evidence linking the Haqqani network to the Pakistan government. This is something that must stop,” Munter told the Radio Pakistan.
Citing unnamed Afghan officials, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that mobile phones found on the slain attackers after the raid indicate they were in contact with people from “outside Afghanistan.”
The United States uses unmanned surveillance aircraft in its war against Taliban in Afghanistan to monitor terrorists in Pakistan. afp
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk
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