Senior US commanders discuss border cooperation with Kayani

General James Mattis and General John Allen arrive in Pakistan, meet army top brass.

ISLAMABAD:
Two top US generals held talks with the Pakistan army chief on Wednesday, in the first such meeting since air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers four months ago, the Pakistan army said.

It is the first high level meeting after Salala incident. The meeting focused on the inquiry into the incident and improvements in Border Coordination Procedures.

Earlier in the day, they called on General Khalid Shameem Wynne, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. General James N. Mattis and General John Allen discussed bilateral defence matters, and the emerging geo strategic situation of the region, with the Chairman.

General Mattis, and General Allen, had arrived in Pakistan for a pre-scheduled official tour.


The November 26 strikes, for which the United States has so far refused to apologise, prompted Pakistan to shut its Afghan border to NATO supplies and evict American personnel from an air base reportedly used in its drone war against al Qaeda and the Taliban.

The Pakistani army said the meeting would focus "on the inquiry into the incident and improvements in border coordination procedures".

A Pakistani security official, speaking to AFP confirmed that the American generals had arrived in Pakistan, but declined to give any further information until after the meeting had taken place later in the afternoon.

On Thursday, US President Barack Obama met Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani at a nuclear summit in Seoul, and vowed to rescue their troubled alliance which almost ruptured over months of mistrust and recriminations.

It was the highest-level exchange between the two sides since the killing of Osama bin Laden in a clandestine US raid on Pakistan last May.

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