WASHINGTON: Amidst growing pressure on Pakistan to act against the Haqqani Network, Pakistan ISI chief General Ahmed Shuja Pasha visited Washington DC quietly on Tuesday for a one day visit to meet with his CIA counterpart General David Petraeus.
As first reported by Washington Post, the CIA officially declined to comment on whether the meeting had taken place. However, sources said that General Pasha had met with David Petraeus, CIA officials at the CIA headquarters in Langley and separately with senior White House officials at Ambassador Husain Haqqani's residence in Washington before leaving for Islamabad. The Post reported that the Haqqani Network was the focus of their discussions.
The meeting between the intelligence chiefs was the third high level meeting in a week to discuss the Haqqani Network and its presence in Pakistan. With US officials urging Pakistan to take action. On Sunday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar in New York, where the first and last thing discussed was the Haqqani Network.
On Friday, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen met COAS General Kayani in Seville, Spain for four hours, where he reiterated his desire for Pakistan to take action against the group.
On Tuesday, Admiral Mullen had said that he had no doubt that the Haqqani Network was responsible for the attacks on the US Embassy and NATO HQ in Kabul on September 13, and the attack on US soldiers in Wardak on September 11 in Afghanistan. Admiral Mullen also said that the ISI, supporting proxies, must disengage from this part of their strategy.
US military trainings in Pakistan suspended
With calls of 'do more' coming from both sides among plummeting bi-lateral relations, US military, which had been training Pakistani troops, has suspended their programs upon request from the Pakistani government.
The US Department of Defence spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Robbins told The Express Tribune that “The number of US military personnel has been reduced and training has been suspended at the request of the Government of Pakistan.”
The spokesperson further said that while personnel had been reduced, the US military will continue deployment of a small contingent to provide support and help coordinate attacks with NATO.
“We will maintain a small presence of US military to conduct security cooperation, respond to future requests for support and to preserve military-to-military ties. We will also continue to work with the Pakistan military to improve coordination with NATO forces in Afghanistan,” the statement read.
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We live in dreamland. We always talk in sleeping pills. I read all the above comments above, more or less are the same with emotion and excitement. I would like to put a question whether the present fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan is according to injunction of Islam. While suicide himself is one of the major sin in Islam and he who does comit suicide will go to hell. Be one one nation. Inspite of thinking over fighting we should do better for poor people of pakistan, like education,health, get rid of poverty,create jobs,equal justice to every people of pakistan. It looks all the peple of pakistan are slave of 500 families who have been always in governmwent and treasury of pakistan in their hands, making the people fool in the name of stone age culture while their children are studying in those countries who are fighting with taliban in Afghanistan.**strong text
@ Khan: First you need to come out of history as the people who remain in history never succeed...Secondly you need to change your name from "Khan" coz real khans like Taliban(who have given tough time to americans) are warriors and they are not scared of death....US and others are fighting with Muslims in Afghanistan...We are not scared of death as we know when we die in the name of Allah we will be in heaven whereas in case of US,India,NATO service members,Japan etc ,who they will die for??? Christians or jews can never be your friend...open your eyes before it's too late and try to spend some time understanding Quran Kareem.....Allah has once again shown/proven to the world that a super power like US is defeated by persons who live in old age and who do not possess weapons and still by their will and EEmaan they defeated US and its allies....
I remember when Tony Blair came to pakistan during musharaf regime, he said to just join us, this time we should not leave your country alone, now where they are, just cheating everytime and left the country on the stake. The government of paklistan should stand strongly against USA with the support of public, sure they are coward and they they dont have other option to leave Afghanistan.
Haqqani network is not the only reason US is losing the war in Afghanistan. In fact US has already lost in Afghanistan and is looking for excuses and scapegoats. Afghanistan has been a graveyard of many empires. What makes US think that it is better than all the empires of the past? Since US has already lost, it should cut its losses and run and spare the region of more bloodshed.
what seems neglected here is may be pertinent to note that haqqani network itself claims to have more than 5000 strong militants inside paktikia province of afghanistan,so what r u aiming at?. Moreover, counter insurgency against symbols like Jalalud din haqqani etc may have little or no effects on over all counter terrorism because its important to fight the root causes and ideology rather than taking out figure heads as is amply evident that after taking out Osama no worthwhile reduction in terrorism has been seen. There have been reports of US talking to all reconcilables in the Taliban,so why not talk to this group as well.
Mr. Manget we r ready , This would be the biggest folly if US forces take unilateral action in north waziristan, they should learn lesson from Russian & British war history.
Check out this story http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-sharpens-warning-to-pakistan/2011/09/20/gIQAdqlNjK_story.html things are getting serious
It is now clear to everyone that USA will no longer tolerate the double game of Pak army, They have tried all methods to make Pak army fall in line, but it has not worked. We can now see lot of fireworks in coming weeks.Get ready for the climax.
Strategic establishment under the command of greatest strategic minds, working under the doctrine of necessity, faced with existential threat from eternal enemy have created strategic assets with the strategic goal of creating a strategic hole, bigger and deeper than any before That great strategy, cannot be changed even as the goal of strategic undisputed relations with a strategic ally is persued . Please let me knoe if any clarification is required.
The General and the military establishment should know by now that such groups are spreading terrorism not only in Pakistan but all over the world, is not beneficial for Pakistan nor the Armed forces, these so called strategic assets can only benefit certain establishment for their agenda. I certainly hope that a strong action is taken by the security agencies to rid Pakistan of all these terrorist group. let's not wait for the time when others will decide it for us, we surely seems to be heading in that direction. If US and NATO decides to take action against these terror groups on their own which may bring peace then I support them
@Megatron: You need to read the history a little bit ... Not very long ago but just a few decades ago when the British and allies were about to lose in WWII due to which they left their occupation of India, before leaving they made sure to split India in two and when were near to be humiliated in their fight against Hitler and his advance allies like Japan .. they made sure to divide Germany where they still have American bases from past half century... and humbled Japan by throwing two ABs brutally ... So pls think before you write something on such forum next time. This quote attributed to Japanese commander in chief Yamamoto of WWII, sums its up "I fear that all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."
Our Army's daydreaming about controlling Afghanistan will never cease. If they were sincere and concerned only for peace and prosperity of the citizens of Pakistan (who also happen to be the paymasters of everyone on government payoll), they would have disengaged completely from Afghanistan, shut down all militias on Pakistani soil, and publicly proclaimed our country to be the Switzerland of this region - i.e. a country that does not get involved in neighbors' affairs primarily because it is too busy addressing the needs of its own citizens, which are: peace, security, education, healthcare, jobs, clean drinking water, electricity, etc.
Why always the Americans are aiming against Pakistan,is the USA has not seen the map of Afghanistan with how many countries he is sharing broader with.All have put there stakes on Taliban.More and more bad time is approaching for Americans in Afghanistan.
and what about Taliban attacking from KUNAR to pakistani troops?? who is responsible for that?? what about NATO involvement in that??
The Americans , NATO and Afghan Army have failed miserably to protect their soldiers , diplomats and instead of accepting their own failure, they are blaming PAKISTAN.
A minor comment to the tribune, it is not necessary to slap on a photo on the story all the time. If you do not have a new photo then just don't put one on. I have seen both of these photos so many times that its getting a bit embarrassing really.
Like they say "discretion is the better part of valour". Jingoism to cater to local opinion and quiet cooperation behind the back seems to be the new mantra. At least this strategy sounds practical if we discard the duplicity part. With few friends and a sinking economy that needs artificial respiration there is no alternative to being practical. If Pakistan does not deliver the Haqqanis and Quetta Shura US/NATO will locate them and action will follow of course without taking the protectors of those Assets into confidence. The country can do without another fiasco like the OBL Abbotabad saga being repeated. The capacity to take repeated blows to the body stands diminished. Where are the think tanks now after presenting an apologetic and pompous report on Afghanistan ?
General Ahmed Shuja Pasha
The movie is heading towards a heady climax !
US should now come on the media and accept their defeat...End this war which they never gonna win...otherwise be prepared that Afghanistan will be the graveyard of American,British and NATO soldiers...
Everything in this country is hijacked by US so let see what will happened
Three serpents which are destroying Pakistan piece by piece. USA - Taliban – Pakistani Leadership.
Joint US-PAK military actions are very likely in coming months, judging from the hectic meetings and tight squeeze of PAK.
how did he sneak out like that ?
Some people broke my lovely country into two and now they are doing it again but people of my county never mind and stay as ignorant as they were forty years ago. Is there anyone who can shout and say no more compulsive gambling on this chessboard!
Hopefully the good general tells the truth about OBL's presence and promises to actually do something to keep Pakistan and the area safe from terrorists.