Bilateral interests: US, Pakistan militaries to coordinate on cross-border threat

Kayani says Pakistan supports political solution to Afghanistan conflict.

ISLAMABAD:

Top military commanders from Pakistan and the United States agreed on Friday to strengthen their existing military-to-military coordination mechanisms in an attempt to effectively deal with the terror threat on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The decision was taken during a meeting between Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and visiting head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) General Lloyd J Austin III at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. General Austin also held a separate meeting with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Khalid Shameem Wyne.

This was General Austin’s first visit to Pakistan since he took charge of his new responsibilities.

A statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said the two generals discussed “matters of bilateral and professional interest with special emphasis on strengthening the existing military-to-military coordination mechanisms.”

Requesting anonymity, a military official told The Express Tribune that military-to-military ties between the two countries had improved in recent months.

The CENTCOM chief was the second high-ranking US military official to travel to Pakistan in less than a week. His trip comes on the heels of a visit by General Joseph F Dunford, head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) forces stationed in Afghanistan.

Kayani also recently met US Secretary of State John Kerry in the Jordanian capital of Amman to review progress made in the Afghan reconciliation process.

The official said Kayani and Austin also discussed the current situation in Afghanistan. Kayani reportedly told the visiting US general that Pakistan stood by its policy of supporting all efforts leading to a political solution to the decade-long conflict in Afghanistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2013.