Mullen & Kayani Attempt to Salvage US-Pak Relationship

[Lankan Ranger]

Talks with US today to salvage friendship

Efforts to calm overwrought Pakistan-US bilateral ties get into high gear on Wednesday, but with little hope of an enduring rapprochement because of marked divergences in strategic agendas of the two countries vis-à-vis Afghanistan and the region.

Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen will be in Islamabad for talks with the military leadership on Wednesday, while Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir will start a two-day meeting with American officials in Washington on Thursday.

But analysts believe the two sides can at best slow the downslide in ties and improve the atmospherics by agreeing to resume strategic dialogue and other high-level engagements. The pessimism about any significant forward movement primarily emanates from disinclination both in Islamabad and Washington to accommodate each other’s strategic concerns and worries.

The two high-profile meetings are the latest in efforts to resolve the differences that caught public attention after CIA operative Raymond Davis shot to death two youths in Lahore in January and got exacerbated by drone attacks and growing worries among Pakistani security agencies about an expanding CIA footprint in Pakistan — considered to be an affront to Pakistan’s sovereignty.

The denouement had been in the making for a couple of years, but was masked well by both the sides.

Centcom Commander Gen Mattis recently visited Pakistan to listen to the military’s grievances and the ISI chief travelled to Washington only to find his counterpart Leon Panetta obsessed with fears about threats to US security from terrorists holed up in sanctuaries in tribal areas.

The two countries have been expressing the desire for renewal of ties and have reiterated their interest in bilateral relationship, but little has been publicly said about the critical issues deeply dividing them.

Pakistan is worried about US policies in the region that look to be heavily biased towards India; Washington’s tough line on its nuclear programme; and mutual distrust in the fight against militants.

Senior Pakistani officials believe that the only way out of the stalemate is that US change its narrative on issues considered by them as ‘part and parcel’ for the country’s existence. “The US will have to decide if it wants to treat Pakistan as a satellite state or with respect as a partner,” a diplomatic analyst said.

Americans agree that they need to look at relations with Pakistan through regional realities, but they are not ready to put words into action. On its part, Washington seems to be getting desperate over Pakistan’s defiance of implementing stricter counter-insurgency policies that could make its job in Afghanistan easy.

A recent White House semi-annual report blamed Pakistan for lacking a clear path towards defeating Taliban insurgency in its territory. Even as lip-service is being paid to sacrifices rendered by Pakistan in the war on terror, Americans still label Pakistan as Al Qaeda’s principal sanctuary in whose border regions terrorists roam freely, threatening world peace.

Analysts say the two sides through their ongoing hectic efforts, both at military and diplomatic levels, may be able to bring some semblance of normalcy in their relationship, but they will need to go the proverbial extra mile for salvaging the friendship that is undoubtedly critical to each other’s interests.

Talks with US today to salvage friendship | Newspaper | DAWN.COM

 

[SpArK]

U.S., Pakistan cannot allow ties to unravel: Mullen​

(Reuters) - U.S. and Pakistani leaders agree they cannot afford to let security ties unravel, the top U.S. military officer said Tuesday, even as he acknowledged persistent strains including Pakistani links to insurgents staging attacks in Afghanistan.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the comments before a trip to Islamabad as he visited U.S. bases in Afghanistan that are grappling with violence by insurgents coming over the border from Pakistan.

Washington has long accused elements of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of maintaining ties with the Haqqani network, an issue that Mullen said he would again raise in talks Wednesday with Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani.

"We're working our way through the relationships that the ISI has with the Haqqani network and the strain that that creates," Mullen said, even as he cited battlefield gains reducing the group's mobility.

"I'll see General Kayani here shortly and these are issues I address with him every single time we engage. And I certainly intend to (raise that) this week."

Pakistan has long demanded a say in any peace settlement in Afghanistan. Analysts believe Islamabad sees groups such as the Haqqani network as a way to ensure it can influence any future deal -- and check any rival advances in Kabul by India, Pakistan's arch-rival.

But the Haqqani network is only one of the irritants in the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, along with Pakistani concerns over U.S. drone attacks and espionage that have dominated headlines recently and intensified anti-American sentiment there.

The case of a CIA contractor, Raymond Davis, who killed two Pakistanis brought anger to boiling point and challenged the CIA's campaign of aerial drone strikes against militants hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas.

Pakistan is also seeking a cut in the number of U.S. Special Forces trainers working in sensitive regions, an issue raised by the ISI chief, Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, at talks at CIA headquarters last week.

TURBULENT TIME

Mullen acknowledged that "we've had a very turbulent time," but added that despite the tensions, all sides acknowledged the relationship was vital.

"I think that all of us believe that we cannot afford to let this relationship come apart," Mullen said, referring to U.S. and Pakistani military and intelligence chiefs.

"It's just too dangerous. It's too dangerous, in each country, for each country. It's too dangerous for the region."

He acknowledged that the relationship was difficult, but added: "We walk away from it at our peril, quite frankly."

Asked about Pakistani demands to trim the number of U.S. military trainers, who Pakistan fears could be involved in covert action, Mullen said he still saw continued U.S. training support in the future. He did not offer specifics and said the matter still needed to be ironed out.


Mullen's visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan comes as the United States enters a delicate phase of the unpopular, nearly 10-year-old war. U.S. officials are preparing plans to start withdrawing troops in July, with the goal of handing lead security responsibility to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

But they are also bracing for heavy fighting ahead.

"I've been very straight with the American people with respect to that. I think our losses which were significant last year will be this year as well," Mullen said.

"That said, the Taliban had a really tough year last year. They're going to have a tougher one this year."

U.S. commanders in Afghanistan cited increased cooperation at a tactical level on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border. They also acknowledge violence that has reached inside the bases visited by Mullen.

At Forward Operating Base Salerno, one of Mullen's stops on Tuesday, a 26-year-old soldier was killed on April 3 by an insurgent rocket fired into the heavily fortified compound in Khost province, just 13 miles from the Pakistan border.

Mullen also visited the nearby U.S. forward operating base that was targeted by a suicide bomber in December 2009, killing seven CIA employees.

U.S., Pakistan cannot allow ties to unravel: Mullen | Reuters

 

[Adnan Faruqi]

Pakistan's Intelligence Agency Linked To Afghanistan Militants: U.S.



ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The top U.S. military officer accused Pakistan's intelligence agency of maintaining ties to militants in Afghanistan during a trip to Islamabad on Wednesday that was focused on easing diplomatic tensions.

[B]Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Pakistan's perceived foot-dragging in tackling strongholds in North Waziristan belonging to the Haqqani network and its continuing relationship with it was "the most difficult part" of the U.S.-Pakistani relationship.[/B]

"It's fairly well known that the ISI has a longstanding relationship with the Haqqani network," he said in an interview with Pakistan's daily Dawn newspaper. "Haqqani is supporting, funding, training fighters that are killing Americans and killing coalition partners. And I have a sacred obligation to do all I can to make sure that doesn't happen.

"So that's at the core -- it's not the only thing -- but that's at the core that I think is the most difficult part of the relationship," Mullen said.

Pakistan's powerful Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has long been suspected of maintaining ties to the Haqqani network, cultivated during the 1980s when Jalaluddin Haqqani was a feared battlefield commander against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

"I don't know what kind of relationship he's talking about," a senior Pakistani intelligence official told Reuters. "If he means we're providing them with protection, with help, that's not correct. Even if you are enemies, you have a relationship."

Pakistan's Intelligence Agency Linked To Afghanistan Militants: U.S.

 

[Adnan Faruqi]

Mullen Talks Tough to Pakistan

By ZAHID HUSSAIN

ISLAMABAD—Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pakistani news channel Wednesday that links between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence military spy agency and the Haqqani faction of the Taliban were continuing to strain relations between the countries.

Adm. Mullen's comments to GEO TV, a private network, signal that the U.S. is not backing down from an increasingly hostile battle with Pakistan over how to combat Islamist militants who operate on the border with Afghanistan.

"We have strong reservations over the relations of elements of the ISI with the Haqqani network," Adm. Mullen said. He termed the U.S.-Pakistan relationship as "complex" and unlikely to be improved overnight. "There is not a magic solution," he said.

Adm. Mullen's two-day visit to Pakistan, which began Wednesday following a trip to Afghanistan, comes after Pakistan threatened earlier this month to reduce the number of Central Intelligence Agency operatives allowed to operate in the country after Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor, shot dead two armed men in January in the Pakistani city of Lahore. Mr. Davis was arrested and only released after the U.S. agreed to pay compensation to the dead men's relatives.

Islamabad also has begun publicly to oppose the CIA's campaign of unmanned drone strikes against militant targets in Pakistan's tribal regions bordering Afghanistan. Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, last month condemned a drone strike that killed more than 40 people, saying that it hit civilians and that the attacks were hurting Pakistan's own war against militants.

U.S. officials say civilian deaths are small. Adm. Mullen's comments about the ISI's continued links with the Haqqani network show how the U.S. is keeping up the pressure on Pakistan to clamp down on militant safe havens as it prepares to begin a gradual draw-down of troops from Afghanistan starting in July.

The Haqqani network is a group based in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region that regularly attacks U.S. forces in Afghanistan—including a December 2009 strike on a CIA base that killed seven of the agency's staff.

The U.S. believes some elements within the ISI continue to help the group as a way of influencing events in Afghanistan once the U.S. pulls out.

The ISI denies it is aiding the Haqqani network and says the reason it can't launch an attack on their bases in North Waziristan is because the army is tied down fighting militants elsewhere.

Adm. Mullen is viewed as one of the most ardent proponents within the Obama administration for dialog with Pakistan. He has spoken highly of Gen. Kayani in the past and the two are said to have a strong working relationship.

But his statement ahead of a meeting with Gen. Kayani on Wednesday, "will not help improve the atmosphere," said a Pakistani security official. " We have our own priorities and cannot launch an operation in North Waziristan on American pressure."

Despite problems in the relationship, neither side is willing to jettison it completely. Pakistan relies on billions of dollars in U.S. military and civilian aid. The U.S. needs Pakistan to continue to fight militants, and it uses Pakistan as a transit route for supplies to troops in Afghanistan.

On Thursday, Salman Bashir, Pakistan's foreign secretary, will hold meetings with U.S. officials in Washington in another effort to get relations back on track. Mr. Bashir is expected to discuss a U.S. visit by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, which was scheduled for March but delayed by the incident involving Mr. Davis, the CIA contractor.

However, a Pakistan military official said relations won't improve as long as the U.S. continues unilaterally to operate drone strikes on Pakistan soil and run undeclared CIA agents in the country. "There cannot be any improvement in relations until the U.S. agrees to new rules of engagement," the official said.

Last week, a meeting between ISI chief Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha and CIA Director Leon Panetta in Washington failed to improve relations.

"It is the time that we redefine our relations with the United States," said the security official.

Mullen Talks Tough to Pakistan - WSJ.com

 

[|| |\| ||)) || /\\ |\|]

By SAEED SHAH
McClatchy Newspapers
LAHORE, Pakistan -- The top uniformed American military official used an interview on Pakistani television Wednesday to accuse the country's spy agency of supporting a leading Afghan insurgent group that's killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The unusually direct remarks from Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who's been known in the past for playing the "good cop" role on the U.S. side of the rocky relationship between the countries, appeared to signal that Washington is running out of patience with what it suspects is Pakistani double-dealing on the war against Islamic extremists in Afghanistan.

Mullen said that Pakistan's premier spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, has a "relationship" with the Haqqani network, a group close to the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida, that ends up costing the lives of American soldiers in Afghanistan.

Ties between Islamabad and Washington, close anti-terrorism allies since 2001, have plummeted since January, when an American contractor working for the CIA, Raymond Davis, shot dead two Pakistani men in Lahore, claiming that they were armed and trying to rob him.

The Davis episode exposed secret CIA operations that spy on extremist groups considered close to the ISI, which has historically nurtured jihadist groups that fight as its proxies in India and Afghanistan.

The fallout meant the near-cessation of CIA-run drone attacks on suspected extremists in Pakistan's tribal area after Pakistani official protests over the strikes.

"The ISI has a long-standing relationship with the Haqqani network. That doesn't mean everybody in the ISI. But it's there," Mullen said in an interview broadcast Wednesday evening on Geo News, Pakistan's leading news channel. "I believe over time that's got to change."


The remarks seemed carefully calculated and weren't prompted by a direct question on the issue. Mullen used nearly the same language in separate interviews with two Pakistani newspapers.

Usually, Mullen, who's made 22 visits to Pakistan, has used his public pronouncements here to trumpet the strength of his personal relationship with Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, and has diligently avoided incendiary remarks on Pakistan even when other U.S. officials were critical. The ISI works directly under the Pakistani military.

But on Wednesday he pulled no punches.

"Haqqani is supporting, funding, training fighters that are killing Americans and killing coalition partners. And I have a sacred obligation to do all I can to make sure that doesn't happen," he said. "So that's at the core - it's not the only thing - but that's at the core that I think is the most difficult part of the (U.S.-Pakistan) relationship," Mullen said in an interview with Dawn, a Pakistani daily newspaper.

Washington considers the drone strikes, the only weapon available to the U.S. against al-Qaida and other extremists holed up in Pakistan's tribal area, to be highly effective. However, the attacks have often targeted the Haqqani group and an allied Pakistani militant outfit, led by Gul Bahadur, in the North Waziristan part of the tribal area.


Pakistan denies supporting Haqqani or other militant groups but acknowledges keeping open channels of communication with them, as spy agencies often do. The Pakistani military says it's too stretched elsewhere to mount an operation against the Haqqani network, which is based in North Waziristan.

The United States is also deeply concerned about the ISI's relationship to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a jihadist group that was focused on attacking India but that Washington thinks now has global terrorist ambitions and is becoming a surrogate for al-Qaida.


It's thought that Davis was part of an operation to spy on Lashkar-e-Taiba. Mullen said in the interviews that he was concerned about the group and a "syndication of terrorist organizations."



Read more: Mullen accuses Pakistan of keeping terrorist links - World Wires - MiamiHerald.com

 

[BelligerentPacifist]

His govt.'s reps. are sitting down with Taliban emissaries to discuss power-sharing as we speak, and have been for some time. ankeh baraye tu halalash, digar ra haram shud?

 

[foxhound]

ref:Top US military officer accuses Pakistan's ISI of links with Haqqani militants - Telegraph

Top US military officer accuses Pakistan's ISI of links with Haqqani militants The top U.S. military officer accused Pakistan's intelligence agency of maintaining ties to militants in Afghanistan during a trip to Islamabad on Wednesday that was focused on easing diplomatic tensions.

'It's fairly well known that the ISI has a long-standing relationship with the Haqqani network,' Admiral Michael Mullen said Photo: AFP/GETTY5:06PM BST 20 Apr 2011

Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Pakistan's perceived foot-dragging in tackling strongholds in North Waziristan belonging to the Haqqani network and its continuing relationship with it was "the most difficult part" of the U.S.-Pakistani relationship.

"It's fairly well known that the ISI has a long-standing relationship with the Haqqani network," he said in an interview with Pakistan's daily Dawn newspaper. "Haqqani is supporting, funding, training fighters that are killing Americans and killing coalition partners. And I have a sacred obligation to do all I can to make sure that doesn't happen.

"So that's at the core – it's not the only thing – but that's at the core that I think is the most difficult part of the relationship," Mr Mullen said.

Pakistan's powerful Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has long been suspected of maintaining ties to the Haqqani network, cultivated during the 1980s when Jalaluddin Haqqani was a feared battlefield commander against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

"I don't know what kind of relationship he's talking about," a senior Pakistani intelligence official told Reuters. "If he means we're providing them with protection, with help, that's not correct. Even if you are enemies, you have a relationship."

He said that Pakistan had attacked Haqqani's positions and raided his mosques in the past. "Right now, we are not attacking him because we are fully engaged against another group, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)," he said.

Pakistan has been criticised in the past for distinguishing between "good" Taliban militants and "bad" ones, with the Haqqani network falling squarely into the former category.

While based in Pakistan's wild North Waziristan area on the Afghan border, Haqqani refrains from attacking the Pakistani state and is seen as a way to maintain Pakistani influence in any future political settlement in Kabul.

The TTP, on the other hand, is a declared enemy of the Pakistani state and has been at war with the its army since 2007.

Before the trip, Mullen acknowledged that "we've had a very turbulent time," but added that despite the tensions, all sides acknowledged the relationship was vital.

"I think that all of us believe that we cannot afford to let this relationship come apart," Mr Mullen said, referring to U.S. and Pakistani military and intelligence chiefs.

"It's just too dangerous. It's too dangerous, in each country, for each country. It's too dangerous for the region."

He acknowledged that the relationship was difficult, but added: "We walk away from it at our peril, quite frankly."

 

[AAtish]

ref:Top US military officer accuses Pakistan's ISI of links with Haqqani militants - Telegraph

Top US military officer accuses Pakistan's ISI of links with Haqqani militants The top U.S. military officer accused Pakistan's intelligence agency of maintaining ties to militants in Afghanistan during a trip to Islamabad on Wednesday that was focused on easing diplomatic tensions.

'It's fairly well known that the ISI has a long-standing relationship with the Haqqani network,' Admiral Michael Mullen said Photo: AFP/GETTY5:06PM BST 20 Apr 2011

Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Pakistan's perceived foot-dragging in tackling strongholds in North Waziristan belonging to the Haqqani network and its continuing relationship with it was "the most difficult part" of the U.S.-Pakistani relationship.

"It's fairly well known that the ISI has a long-standing relationship with the Haqqani network," he said in an interview with Pakistan's daily Dawn newspaper. "Haqqani is supporting, funding, training fighters that are killing Americans and killing coalition partners. And I have a sacred obligation to do all I can to make sure that doesn't happen.

"So that's at the core – it's not the only thing – but that's at the core that I think is the most difficult part of the relationship," Mr Mullen said.

Pakistan's powerful Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has long been suspected of maintaining ties to the Haqqani network, cultivated during the 1980s when Jalaluddin Haqqani was a feared battlefield commander against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

"I don't know what kind of relationship he's talking about," a senior Pakistani intelligence official told Reuters. "If he means we're providing them with protection, with help, that's not correct. Even if you are enemies, you have a relationship."

He said that Pakistan had attacked Haqqani's positions and raided his mosques in the past. "Right now, we are not attacking him because we are fully engaged against another group, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)," he said.

Pakistan has been criticised in the past for distinguishing between "good" Taliban militants and "bad" ones, with the Haqqani network falling squarely into the former category.

While based in Pakistan's wild North Waziristan area on the Afghan border, Haqqani refrains from attacking the Pakistani state and is seen as a way to maintain Pakistani influence in any future political settlement in Kabul.

The TTP, on the other hand, is a declared enemy of the Pakistani state and has been at war with the its army since 2007.

Before the trip, Mullen acknowledged that "we've had a very turbulent time," but added that despite the tensions, all sides acknowledged the relationship was vital.

"I think that all of us believe that we cannot afford to let this relationship come apart," Mr Mullen said, referring to U.S. and Pakistani military and intelligence chiefs.

"It's just too dangerous. It's too dangerous, in each country, for each country. It's too dangerous for the region."

He acknowledged that the relationship was difficult, but added: "We walk away from it at our peril, quite frankly."

Again.. Media which claimed existence of WMDs in IRAQ to be CONFIRMED..

 

[AAtish]

Hmm.. I guess Washington is figuring out that LeT isn't such a pious "freedom fighting organization" after all

---------- Post added at 06:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:13 PM ----------



Keep barking

Oh come on.. You and Me both know that Washington finds what IT NEEDS to find.. thats all.. it has nothing to do with terrorists.. or in favor or benefit of civilians of Afghanistan or Pakistan.. They are basically CREATING new REASONS to STAY in this region.. TTP never existed before.. IF I KILL YOUR FAMILY WITHOUT ANY REASON.. WOULD YOU TAKE REVENGE??.. IF YES THEN THATS BEING HUMAN.. IF NO.. THEN YOU ARE LYING!!! get the point?.. drone attacks on civilians are PLANNED attacks.. nothing like "collateral damage" in WoT

 

[|| |\| ||)) || /\\ |\|]

Oh come on.. You and Me both know that Washington finds what IT NEEDS to find.. thats all.. it has nothing to do with terrorists.. or in favor or benefit of civilians of Afghanistan or Pakistan.. They are basically CREATING new REASONS to STAY in this region.. TTP never existed before.. IF I KILL YOUR FAMILY WITHOUT ANY REASON.. WOULD YOU TAKE REVENGE??.. IF YES THEN THATS BEING HUMAN.. IF NO.. THEN YOU ARE LYING!!! get the point?.. drone attacks on civilians are PLANNED attacks.. nothing like "collateral damage" in WoT

And what would that bolded part be exactly?

 

[AAtish]

And what would that bolded part be exactly?

Excuse to stay longer..

 

[|| |\| ||)) || /\\ |\|]

Excuse to stay longer..

As long as they're taking out terrorist camps its fine. Something that GoP has failed to do.
Both U.S and pakistan have created the mess. It's about time they dismantle their "Frankenstein" they've created.

 

[Majnun]

US drones have destroyed girls school in Pakistan, they have killed thousands women and children, destroyed people's homes in Pakistan.
US has destroyed entire villages, has slaughtered thousands of Afghan civilians, has completely ravaged the country.
Rather than helping their allies, they decide to make Pakistan the scapegoat and start murdering Pakistani civilians.
There was never such a level of extremism in Pakistan before the tribal areas were destroyed. Its the US that is to thank for extremism in Pakistan.
And as regards your links, everyone becomes a militant once they are murdered by the US. And anyone would become extremist after their wife and children were murdered and the known perpetrator wasn't brought to justice.
Ab zara apna bakwas band karo.

 

[|| |\| ||)) || /\\ |\|]

US drones have destroyed girls school in Pakistan, they have killed thousands women and children, destroyed people's homes in Pakistan.
US has destroyed entire villages, has slaughtered thousands of Afghan civilians, has completely ravaged the country.
Rather than helping their allies, they decide to make Pakistan the scapegoat and start murdering Pakistani civilians.
There was never such a level of extremism in Pakistan before the tribal areas were destroyed. Its the US that is to thank for extremism in Pakistan.
And as regards your links, everyone becomes a militant once they are murdered by the US.

For the red part I believe Taliban and extremism has done far worse.

For the orange part, it's all collateral damage.

For the pink yes it is thanks to the U.S and also thanks to Zia and your leaders for supporting them. I've even seen pakistanis on this forum praising Zia as the victor of the Soviet breakup.

Don't get me wrong I'm an admirer of your posts. But I do feel that pakistan needs to own up to their responsibilities by getting rid of these goons. But it seems like isi has been playing a double game.

 

[SMC]

So where is the proof of these claims? Apparently we support US' enemies yet they provide us aid, F-16s and a load of military crap? LOL who exactly are they fooling? It will only work for bharatis and the few in the west who went to believe loony conspiracy theories of Pakistan and/or muslim countries.