Mullen says stopped Kayani from interfering in political crisis: Ban Ki-moon urges re

[Neo]

Mullen says stopped Kayani from interfering in political crisis: Ban Ki-moon urges resolution of differences ​

KARACHI (March 14 2009): US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mike Mullen on Thursday revealed that he stopped Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani from interfering in the countrys political deadlock, a private TV channel reported. Expressing serious concerns over the political chaos in nuclear-armed Pakistan, Mullen said that the US officials were keeping a close eye on opposition protests in the South Asian country.

Clearing US role in this whole episode that fears causing unrest in the South Asian region, Mullen said that he tried to calm Kayani quite a number of times when the Pak Army Chief expressed anger over the way the countrys political establishment was behaving. "I have had upwards of 10 interactions with Kayani. He wants to do the right thing for Pakistan. But he is in a very tough spot," Mullen said in an interview with PBS news.

There is not a "high probability right now" the political crisis will provoke Pak military to meddle, Mullen said, clearing Kayani is "committed to a civilian government" and doesnt wish to stage a coup as done by his predecessor General Pervez Musharraf in 1999. He, however, underlined that the situation (in Pakistan) "continues to deteriorate very, very slowly under a political leadership which is very challenged because of the totality of the crisis".

Voicing concern over the political crisis in Pakistan, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday called on Pakistans leaders - whether in power or in the opposition - to resolve their differences through an "honest dialogue."

"The Secretary General is concerned about the current political and security situation in Pakistan," UN Associate spokesman Farhan Haq said in response to a question at the regular noon briefing. The spokesman said, "Pakistans leaders, whether in power or in the opposition, have the responsibility first and foremost to ensure the safety and security of the Pakistani people

 

[BaburCM]

The Americans want Kayani to fully focus on the WoT and stay out of politics. They need a mercenary army that can do the dirty job. Unfortunately, the army needs to keep an eye on the political situation in Pakistan. The politicians have failed Pakistan many times before. Currently Pakistan only serves one purpose to the US which is the WoT.

 

[Captain03]

kayani will eventually have to interfere for the sake of pakistan

 

[koolio]

The way things are developing in Pakistan in light of the protest march, blocking mobile phone networks, blocking the media channels from operating arresting any one that deems a threat to the government, Zardari has proven to be the most brutal leadership in history of Pakistan. If the political situation deteriorates further General Kiyani will have no choice but to interfere to save Pakistan from further turmoil.

 

[wtf]

kayani will eventually have to interfere for the sake of pakistan

I don't like Americans taking credit for almost everything that goes on in the world. It may have been that Mulford told Kayani not to do anything, but Kayani made the decision independently. We won't know that for a while.

That said, I like the fact that Kayani has chosen to let the civil authorities decide. My reason is the example of India. Indian democracy was at its worst when Indira Gandhi announced an emergency - while the economy did improve, it also lead to lots of killings, jailings, riots etc. Very similar to Pakistan now. At that time in India, the military refused to interfere. It may have been better in the short term (or atleast they were criticized for not interfering) and even under the pressure, the military remained neutral.

This has allowed India to continue on a path of having chain of strong and stable democratic governments - Once that gets broken, it is very difficult to put it back together.
So while it may hurt the stability in the short term, I hope the people of Pakistan can fix their problems through ballots and not bullets. Vote those you hate out of power and vote the best people in.

 

[Awesome]

Mullen really didn't say this. You should see his interview to Charlie Rose where he actually talked about this. The 10 meetings thing is "I've talked to Kayani in the upwards of 10 times" He was talking about meeting him in person about times over the years. He was trying to make a point that he has a good idea about the sort of man Kayani is.

I think there's a lot of spin being put on his words. S-2 posted a thread about this interview, everyone should check it out.