Despite strain, Pak-US not close to split, says Mullen

Top commander says military-to-military ties at ‘very difficult’ crossroads.

WASHINGTON:

US Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen has said that military ties between Pakistan and the US are going through a rocky phase - but added that this situation would not affect civilian ties.

Speaking at his last press briefing before he retires this fall, Mullen was subjected to a barrage of questions by foreign correspondents at the National Press Club’s Foreign Press Centre.

When asked about the state of relations with Pakistan in the light of the decision to put a hold on $800 million in military assistance, Admiral Mullen said that it was not all the assistance going to Pakistan. “Part and parcel of the decision was not to impede, in any way, aid to the civilian side specifically,” he said.

Despite the strain, Mullen said “I don’t think that we are close to severing” those ties and that he hoped the two nations will soon find a way to “recalibrate” those ties. Still, Mullen acknowledged: “We need to work through the details of how this (recalibration) is going to happen.”

Based on his interaction with the Pakistani military leadership, Admiral Mullen said that they, including army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and his Pakistani counterpart General Khalid Shamim Wynne, were supportive of continuing the US-Pakistan relationship. “They want to see peace and stability in the Af-Pak region, which is critical to the US,” he said.

Mullen has earlier suggested that the Pakistan army or the Inter-Services Intelligence agency likely killed journalist Saleem Shahzad, who had reported about militants infiltrating the military.

In response to another question, Admiral Mullen said that military relations between India and the US are going very well and should grow stronger. In his opening remarks, Admiral Mullen said that the US will be working with India on the issues of non-proliferation and countering terrorism.

US does not want permanent bases

The United States has no interest in creating permanent military bases in Afghanistan and does not want to use the country as a platform to influence neighbouring countries, the new US ambassador to Afghanistan said on Monday.

“We have no interest in permanent bases in Afghanistan,” said new US Ambassador Ryan Crocker shortly after he was sworn in at the US Embassy in Kabul.

“We will stay as long as we need to and not one day more. We have no interest in using Afghanistan as a platform to project influence into neighbouring countries,” he said adding that, “Our sole interest is in Afghanistan’s security and sustainable stability in order to ensure the country will never again become a haven for international terrorism.”  Washington is negotiating with the Afghan government to define long-term American role in the country beyond 2014, when Nato troops are due to leave Afghanistan.

It remains unclear whether the ‘strategic partnership’ agreement would explicitly refer to possible US military bases in Afghanistan beyond 2014. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also said the possibility of long-term US bases can only be addressed once peace has been achieved.

Afghanistan has complex relationships with Pakistan and Iran, who see the country as vital to their own security and fear US moves to undermine their influence there, while both China and Russia are wary of US ambitions in the region. The US may be keen to keep bases for attacks on targets inside Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas that are believed to pose a terrorist threat.

Crocker had reopened the US embassy in Kabul back in 2001 after Taliban were ousted by US backed forces. Crocker has also served as US ambassador to Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait and Lebanon.  (With additional reporting from AFP)



Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2011.