I met Gen Kayani five times after Salala episode: Dempsey

Claims his Pakistani counterparts wanted to reset the military to military relationship between the two countries.

US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin E Dempsey says he is pleased with the recent meetings between US and Pakistani military leaders.

Talking to reporters on board a military flight in South America, he said he had met with General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at least five times since the November 26, 2011 incident that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers along the Afghan border. He claimed his Pakistani counterparts wanted to reset the military to military relationship between the two countries. “We want to rebuild the trust and confidence between our two militaries,” the general said, adding that this includes working the border issues with the Pakistanis and reopening the ground supply lines through Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Pakistan had closed the supply line running from Karachi to Afghanistan following the deadly November 26 incident, an act that forced coalition forces to rely solely on a northern supply route. Prospects of reopening the supply route have elicited public disapproval and religious parties are exerting pressure on the Government against any such decision.

Gen Dempsey believes the two militaries can also discuss what must be done in the federally administered tribal areas (Fata) to improve the situation in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Groups that could pose a threat to the national government and Afghanistan have taken root in the tribal areas, the chairman explained. Pakistan has sent troops into the region to take on these groups and to establish the government’s control of its sovereign territory.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2012.