Failed states: Mullen underscores importance of non-military investment

Mullen says the US has chosen to renew its relationship with Pakistan.

WASHINGTON:

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen underscored the importance of non-military investment in failing states at the launch of the Failed States Index 2011.

Pakistan is number 12 on the index.

“We cut off our relationship with Pakistan in the 1990s for twelve years because they developed nuclear weapons. We chose in this decade to renew that relationship and we’re digging ourselves out of a hole of complete mistrust and from my perspective we need that relationship because it’s an extraordinarily dangerous part of the world that is very much tied to our national interest,” Mullen said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2011.