2011 National Strategy: US vows to expand support to Pakistan

Revised for the first time in seven years, the strategy also promises to address developing threats elsewhere.

WASHINGTON:

The US National Military Strategy – revised for the first time in seven years – vows to expand security cooperation with Pakistan and enable it to defeat al Qaeda and its allies operating in the region.

The 2011 national military strategy by the Joint Chiefs of Staff reaffirmed US commitment to fighting terrorism with allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan but said the military must broaden its horizons to address developing threats elsewhere.

Released by the Pentagon, the 2011 statement reaffirms US resolve to curb violent extremism and calls for redefining leadership in a changing world.

The release of the document marks the first revision since 2004. It is a broad statement on ways and means that the military emphasises to advance US national security interests.

“We will expand our military security cooperation, exchanges, and exercises with the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Singapore, and other states in Oceania co-working with them to address domestic and common foreign threats to their nation’s integrity and security,” the document says in the broader regional perspective.

The national strategy notes that Nato will remain America’s “preeminent multilateral alliance and continue to drive our defence relations with Europe. The Joint Force will continue to cooperate to combat violent extremism, focusing on our mission in Afghanistan and support to Pakistan.”

However, the documents make it clear that the threat of violent extremism is not limited to South Central Asia. Terrorists’ abilities to remotely plan and coordinate attacks is growing, sometimes facilitated by global illicit trafficking routes, extending their operational reach while rendering targeting of their sanctuaries more difficult, it observes.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2011.