WASHINGTON: The top US and Pakistani military leaders were to meet on the sidelines of NATO talks in hopes of fixing strained ties following the US raid that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a US defense official said Thursday.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen and his Pakistani counterpart General Ashfaq Kayani are to meet on the margins of a NATO conference beginning in Spain on Friday, the Defense Department official, who asked not to be named, said.
It will be the first meeting between the two military leaders since the May 2 night time military raid in which US Navy Seals, without first notifying Islamabad, killed the Al-Qaeda leader in Abbottabad.
"It's not like the relationship has totally ended, but some rebuilding has got to be done," the military source told AFP.
As relations worsened in the aftermath of the raid, Washington had announced that it could cut some of the $2.7 billion in military aid received by Pakistan.
Pakistan, for its part, in the aftermath of the operation ordered as many as 200 military trainers out of the country.
While relations are frayed, Pakistan is seen as key for US military operations in Afghanistan, where the United States is to trying to beat down a resilient Taliban insurgency.
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@Mirza: @Nadir El-Edroos: Army is functional, alert and working efficiently. It was the first to reach the Flood affected people while our bureaucratic lords were sleeping in their air-conditioned offices . We are also to our local politicians who are with us in this trying situation. Curse be upon Irrigation departments and its DMG bosses who again swallowed the maintenance money and let the villages flood. Floods have brought happiness and prosperity to bureaucracy once again. Once again the undone work will be shown as swept by floods. The construction of roads, maintenance of canals, railway tracks, Schools and colleges, offices and the long list of departments will all be covered under the heading of calamity and natural disaster. Oh God, why dos the poor suffer and the thieves flourish in this country on every occasion. Thankyou Army once again for helping the poor. I am sure that soldiers come from poor background and that is why they are with us in all the calamities and disasters.
@ Nadir el Edross
What a mindless comment. Kiyani is not the executive authority in Pakistan. The running of Govt is the responsibility of the civilian government. Please think rationally before commenting
@Nadir El-Edroos: You are right, but the army officers are exempt from Pakistani constitution.
Asia must present a "united front" else this pariah will reek havoc in Asia.
In the time of floods General Kayani is travelling to Spain, to meet the US joints chief, and that too during a NATO meeting!! Now, if we insert any politicans name instead of Kayanis everyone would be going ballistic by now! Levels of socially acceptable hypocrisy is amazing!
No ties please, I'll prefer that. Pak-US ties are helpful neither to average Americans nor average Pakistanis. It just make our leaders more corrupt, so no ties please.