Under-fire Mullen seeks tougher line

WASHINGTON (Agencies) ? The US will now have to take a tougher line in demanding that Pakistan rein in terror groups, says Admiral Mike Mullen, the outgoing US military boss who recently accused Pakistan of ?exporting terrorism? and hurting American interests in Afghanistan.
?I am losing people, and I am just not going to stand for that. I have been Pakistan?s best friend. What does it say when I am at that point? What does it say about where we are?? Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview. Mullen who demits office by the end of this month said he was leaving with a muddled legacy on Pakistan, an area which he had made a top priority because its border region ?has been a haven for al-Qaeda and other militant groups intent on attacking US interest?.
Explaining his switch, Admiral Mullen, said that the partnership approach with Islamabad, which he had long championed had fallen short and would be difficult to revive. The Admiral took his conclusions to Congress last week where he declared publicly that Pakistan?s military intelligence is collaborating with a militant group that US links for attack on Americans in Afghanistan, triggering a major rift between the two nations.
According to the WSJ, the shift by Mullen infuriated officials in Islamabad, who deny supporting militants, and cast a pall of uncertainty over the tenuous US-Pakistan bond. Mullen was disappointed when a major Pakistani offensive planned against Haqqani fighters in key tribal areas didn?t happen, the US paper said. Even now, though, he stressed that while Pakistan?s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency has provided strategic support to the Haqqanis, they don?t necessarily control the details of the militant group?s operations. ?It is very clear they have supported them. I don?t think the Haqqanis can be turned on and off like a light switch. But there are steps that could be taken to impact the Haqqanis over time,? he said.
Special Correspondent adds: Mullen?s allegations that Haqqani network is a ?veritable arm? of the ISI was overstated and contributed to overheated reactions in Pakistan and misperceptions in Washington, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. Citing American officials involved in US policy in the region, the newspaper said that the internal criticism by the officials reflects concern over the accuracy of Mullen?s characterisations at a time when Obama administration officials have been frustrated in their efforts to persuade Pakistan to break its ties to Afghan insurgent groups.
Pakistan has rejected Mullen?s accusations about its involvement with the Haqqani group, with some officials suggesting that the retiring admiral was probably looking for scapegoats to cover US failures in Afghanistan.
The Post dispatch said the Obama administration has long sought to pressure Pakistan, but to do so in a nuanced way that does not sever the US relationship with a country that American officials see as crucial to winning the war in Afghanistan and maintaining long-term stability in the region.
Mullen?s testimony to a Senate committee was widely interpreted as an accusation by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that Pakistan?s military and espionage agencies sanction and direct bloody attacks against US troops and targets in Afghanistan. Such interpretations prompted new levels of indignation among senior officials in both the United States and Pakistan.
Mullen?s language ?overstates the case?, said a senior Pentagon official with access to classified intelligence files on Pakistan, because there is scant evidence of direction or control. If anything, the official said, the intelligence indicates that Pakistan treads a delicate if duplicitous line, providing support to insurgent groups including the Haqqani network but avoiding actions that would provoke a US response.
?The Pakistani government has been dealing with Haqqani for a long time and still sees strategic value in guiding Haqqani and using them for their purposes,? the Pentagon official said. But ?it?s not in their interest to inflame us in a way that an attack on a [US] compound would do.?
US officials stressed that there is a broad agreement in the military and intelligence community that the Haqqani network has mounted some of the most audacious attacks of the Afghanistan war, including a 20-hour siege by gunmen this month on the US embassy compound in Kabul.
A senior aide to Mullen defended the chairman?s testimony, which was designed to prod the Pakistanis to sever ties to the Haqqani group if not contain it by force. ?I don?t think the Pakistani reaction was unexpected,? said Capt John Kirby. ?The chairman stands by every word of his testimony,? he was quoted as saying.
But Mullen?s pointed message and the difficulty in matching his words to the underlying intelligence underscore the suspicion and distrust that have plagued the United States and Pakistan since they were pushed together as counterterrorism partners after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.
US military officials said that Mullen?s testimony has been misinterpreted, and that his remark that the Haqqani network had carried out recent truck-bomb and embassy attacks ?with ISI support? was meant to imply broad assistance, but not necessarily direction by Pakistan?s agency.
US officials said that even evidence that has surfaced since Mullen?s testimony is open to differences in interpretation, including cellphones recovered from gunmen who were killed during the assault on the US embassy.
One official said the phones were used to make repeated calls to numbers associated with the Haqqani network, as well as presumed ?ISI operatives?. But the official declined to explain the basis for that conclusion.
The senior Pentagon official treated the assertion with scepticism, saying the term ?operatives? covers a wide range of supposed associates of the ISI. ?Does it mean the same Haqqani numbers [also found in the phones], or is it actually uniformed officers? of Pakistan?s spy service?
US officials said Mullen was unaware of the cellphones until after he testified.
Online adds: Pentagon has said it will continue to work with Pakistan to resolve differences.
?We want to maintain a relationship with Pakistan that?s grounded in common interests, to include going after terrorists that threaten both countries,? Pentagon Press Secretary George Little told reporters.
?There are differences from time to time in the relationship with Pakistan, as there are in any partnership,? he said. ?Those differences have been made public, and we continue to discuss (them) in private.?
Despite the bickering, little said the Pentagon looks forward to working with the Pakistanis to try to resolve such differences. ?It s important that both sides continue the dialogue,? he added, ?and that?s happening?.
Afp adds: The White House Wednesday declined to reinforce the top US military officer?s warning that the al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network was a ?veritable arm? of Pakistani intelligence.
But a senior official again candidly said Washington was concerned about links between the network, blamed for attacks on US troops in Afghanistan, and Pakistani?s Inter-Services Intelligence, amid a fierce row with Islamabad.
?It is not language I would use,? said White House spokesman Jay Carney, when questioned whether the president shared the views Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed last week.
?It?s a matter a matter of semantics,? said Carney, seeking to ease the row over the comments by noting Pakistan?s close cooperation in the past in the US struggle against al-Qaeda.
?The administration?s view... is that the continuing safe havens that the Haqqani network enjoys in Pakistan and the links between the Pakistani military and the Haqqani network are troubling, and we want action taken against them.?
?What we have said and what is our policy, is that there are links. I think that is irrefutable,? said Carney, but declined to say whether the views expressed by Mullen were approved by the White House in advance.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/today-headlines/~3/K7YePeVBJz0/Underfire-Mullen-seeks-tougher-line

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