US, Pak military chiefs discuss strategies to combat militancy
From Fazle Rashid |
August 29, 2008 00:00:00
NEW YORK, Aug 28: Admiral Mike Mullen, joint chiefs of staff of America convened a joint meeting with high level Pakistani military commanders aboard air craft carrier Abraham Lincoln in the Indian ocean last Tuesday. They discussed strategies as how best to confront and combat the growing incidents of insurgency along the Pak-Afghan border.
The military top notchers of both the sides were present aboard the air craft carrier. Adm Mullen was joined by Gen. Petraeus, US top commander in Iraq, Gen Mckiernan, NATO commander in Afghanistan, Adm Eric Olson, head of the special operation command and Lt. Gen Martin Demsey acting commander of the US forces in the Middle East and Rear Admiral LeFever, attached to US embassy in Islamabad. Pakistan side was led by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Kayani. He was joined by top military officials of Pakistan, the New York Times reported today.
The star-studded list of participants and extreme secrecy surrounding the talks underscored how gravely both nations regard the growing militant threat, NYT said. It is assumed the two sides discussed new strategies, tactics, weapons and troop deployments. Developments like political turmoil in Pakistan, mounting ferocity of the insurgents against Afghan and Western targets in the region and persistent US complaints about Pakistan was not doing enough to stop militants precipitated the convening the meeting.
Pakistan Ambassador to US Husain Haqqani in an interview on TV network CSPN dismissed the claim that Pakistan was not doing enough saying US has a large presence in Pakistan and if they can pinpoint the areas from where the insurgents are operating it would be easier to destroy them.
The meeting was mainly to continue to discuss ongoing operations against the Talebans in the border region and to work together to find better ways of solving the problems, NYT quoted a senior US official as saying.
The US joint chiefs of staff met with Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Kayani a month ago in Islamabad. It was decided in that meeting to hold talks aboard air-craft carrier Abraham Lincoln. Mullen had bluntly told Kayani that Pakistan needed a lot more to do to combat terrorism. The US took a more conciliatory approach at the Indian Ocean meeting eschewing combative tone.
Admiral Mullen now has a better understanding of a complex problem in the critical part of the world. American commanders in Pakistan and Afghanistan have sounded repeated alarms about growing militancy in both the countries.
