US accuses Pakistan of backing terrorism
The Haqqani network acts as a virtual arm of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency,” Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said the agency was implementing Pakistani government policy in its support of the group, which has also been blamed for numerous other deadly attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Speaking in unusually blunt terms, Admiral Mike Mullen accused Pakistan’s powerful ISI intelligence service of backing the Haqqani insurgent network blamed for attacks including last week’s audacious assault on the US embassy in Kabul.
Describing the Haqqani network as a “veritable arm” of the ISI, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs also accused Pakistan of using violent extremism as an instrument of policy and signalled that the US was running out of patience with its South Asian ally.
Video: Pakistan accused of supporting Afghan terrorists
Audio: US Military chief blasts ISI
Adm Mike Mullen’s address
The following are extracts of the address by outgoing chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen to a US Senate panel in Washington, in which he accuses Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, of close ties with the Haqqani network and of being behind an attack on the US embassy in Kabul on 13 September. He said that the ISI knew of and supported other attacks in Afghanistan.
The sections have been edited and do not necessarily follow the order of delivery.
HAQQANI NETWORK
PHOTO: Haqqani network founder and former Afghan guerilla leader Jalaluddin Haqqani 1998 Syed Haider Shah: AFP
“The Haqqani Network […] acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Agency.
With ISI support, Haqqani operatives planned and conducted that truck bomb attack, as well as the assault on our embassy. We also have credible intelligence that they were behind the 28 June attack against the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul and a host of other smaller but effective operations.
In choosing to use violent extremism as an instrument of policy, the government of Pakistan – and most especially the Pakistani Army and ISI – jeopardises not only the prospect of our strategic partnership, but also Pakistan’s opportunity to be a respected nation with legitimate regional influence.
They may believe that by using these proxies they are hedging their bets, or redressing what they feel is an imbalance of regional power. But in reality they have already lost that bet.”
THE CHANGING TALIBAN
“As we have advanced, the Taliban have adapted.
More than ever before, they are concentrating their efforts on attacks that will produce a maximal psychological impact for a minimal investment in manpower or military capability.
The recent truck bomb at a Wardak outpost falls into this category, as do the attacks last week in Kabul – including the one on our embassy – and the assassination Tuesday of former Afghan President Rabbani.
These acts of violence are as much about headlines and playing on the fears of a traumatised people, as they are about inflicting casualties – maybe even more so.”
CORRUPTION AND THE RULE OF LAW
“Corruption makes a mockery of the rule of law. It delegitimises the very governing institutions to which we will be transitioning authority. And it sends an aggrieved populace further into the waiting arms of the Taliban.
If we continue to draw down forces apace while such public and systemic corruption is left unchecked, I believe we risk leaving behind a government in which we cannot reasonably expect Afghans to have faith.
At best this would lead to localised conflicts inside the country; at worst it could lead to government collapse and civil war.”
US RELATIONSHIP WITH PAKISTAN
“I believe that a flawed and difficult relationship is better than no relationship at all.
Some may argue I have wasted my time, that Pakistan is no closer to us than before, and may now have drifted even further away. I disagree. Military cooperation is warming. Information flow between us and across the border is quickening. Transparency is returning, slowly.
With Pakistan’s help we have disrupted al-Qaeda and its senior leadership in the border regions and degraded its ability to plan and conduct terror attacks.
Indeed, I think we would be in a far tougher situation today, in the wake of the frostiness which fell over us after the Bin Laden raid, were it not for the groundwork General Kayani and I had laid – were it not for the fact that we could at least have a conversation about the way ahead, however difficult that conversation might be.”
Source: BBC
US asks Pak to break links with Haqqani network
Piling up pressure on Pakistan, the US has asked its authorities, particularly ISI, to sever ties with the Haqqani network of Taliban and demanded “strong and immediate action” against the outfit, even as it insisted there is no permanent breach in bilateral relations and lines of communication are open.
“It is critical that the government of Pakistan break any links they have, and take strong and immediate action against this network so that they are no longer a threat to the United States or to the people of Pakistan — because this network is a threat to both,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters last evening.
Carney said the Obama administration believes and knows that the Haqqani network was responsible for the attacks on the US embassy in Kabul and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters, and a number of other recent attacks that caused death and injury not only to Afghans but to American soldiers.
“We know that the Haqqani network operates from safe havens in Pakistan and that the government of Pakistan has not taken action against these safe havens,” he said, adding that top US officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, would continue to have conversations with the Pakistani leadership on this issue.
The United States, Carney said, has an important relationship with Pakistan.
“That relationship and the cooperation that we have had with Pakistan has assisted us greatly in our efforts to defeat al-Qaeda. It is important to remember that Pakistan has suffered mightily at the hands of terrorists and they’ve paid a terrible price for it,” he said.
“It is a complicated relationship, as you’ve heard me say before, and when we have issues that we need to discuss with the Pakistanis we’re very candid and forthright in doing so. As I just mentioned, Chairman Mullen and Secretary Clinton met with their Pakistani counterparts earlier in the past week or so to discuss, and those conversations will continue,” Carney said.
Amidst a war of words between the US and Pakistan on Haqqani network, a Pentagon official stressed that the lines of communication with Islamabad are open and there is no permanent breach in relationship with Islamabad.
“The lines of communication with our Pakistani counterparts remain open. This is a relationship that’s complicated but essential,” Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters.
“We have disagreements, sometimes serious ones. That does not mean that we are going to stop dialogue. It is important that we find cooperation on issues that are of interest to us and fighting terrorism is one of them,” Little said.
The United States and Pakistan, both of them, have been the victims of terrorism and need to continue to work together on that problem, he said.
“I wouldn’t take you to the point where you would suggest some kind of permanent breach. That is not the case. The lines of communication remain open,” said the Pentagon spokesman in response to a question.
Another Pentagon spokesman continued with allegations against Pakistan and said that the ISI not only supports but also encourages Haqqani network for terrorist attacks.
Captain John Kirby, spokesperson of Admiral Mullen, told Pentagon reporters that there has been a long-standing historical relationship between the ISI and extremist groups.
Kirby said: “There has been a lot of activity over the course of this summer – the hotel attack in Kabul, Wardak truck bomb, attack on the embassy and others smaller level operations. It has been a very busy summer for the Haqqani network. It has gone worse.
“Their (Haqqani’s) activities have become more brazen, more aggressive and more lethal. Information has become more available that these attacks have been supported or encouraged by the ISI. The Chairman (Mullen) just had the conversation with (Pakistan army chief) General (Ashfaq Parvez) Kayani last week in Spain. He said this because this is the truth.”
“All I can tell you that we are confident that the ISI continues to support and even encourages the Haqqanis to launch these attacks. I am not going into, at this point, specifics of the intelligence that we have about the support they have we believe,” he said.
However, Kirby said Mullen has not spoken to Kayani after his Congressional testimony on Thursday in which he described the Haqqani network as a “veritable arm” of the ISI.
“We still want to pursue a working, productive partnership with the Pakistani military, and that in large measure depends on their willingness and their ability to disconnect themselves from extremist groups like the Haqqani network,” Kirby said.
But, he conceded that this is a “tough relationship that requires a lot of energy” and lot of dialogue.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/US-asks-Pak-to-break-links-with-Haqqani-network/H1-Article1-749537.aspx
This is sad that because of shenanigans of some in the state within state, the whole nation is likely to suffer consequences!
Both countries have different objectives, even though both have been fighting on the same side in the war.