Mullen Expresses Impatience With Pakistan on Visit

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Mullen Expresses Impatience With Pakistan on Visit
By THOM SHANKER
Published: December 14, 2010


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — America’s top military officer visited Pakistan’s capital on Tuesday, carrying what he called a strong sense of “strategic impatience” with the government here over its failure to clear insurgents from border safe havens where they prepare lethal attacks against American and allied forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

The officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, emphasized that the United States and Pakistan have common interests in combating insurgent and militant groups huddling in Pakistan: They are weakening the American-led military effort in the 9-year-old Afghanistan war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and they are killing Pakistani civilians as they seek to undermine the government in Islamabad.

“The extremist organizations that are killing Pakistani nationals are a huge challenge to them,” Admiral Mullen said during an interview with a small group of American correspondents. “We all have a sense of urgency about this. We are losing people.”

The problem, he said, is how to manage the need to halt cross-border insurgent attacks while helping build Pakistan’s capabilities to battle domestic insurgents — and to convince the Pakistan government that domestic terrorism is a greater threat than the one perceived from rival India.

“We want to solve it overnight,” Admiral Mullen said. There is a strategic impatience on the part of myself and others. For the long-term relationship, there has got to be strategic patience. And there is a tension there. I think we both understand that.”

Admiral Mullen has sought to develop a relationship with Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Pakistani army chief. To make this, his 21st trip to Pakistan as chairman, Admiral Mullen slipped away unannounced from a holiday U.S.O. tour in Iraq.

This visit comes as the Obama administration prepares this week to announce a review of its strategy in Afghanistan. It is also Admiral Mullen’s first visit to his Pakistani counterpart after embarrassing leaks of classified diplomatic cables revealed strong American criticisms of the Pakistani government and its top intelligence service, the ISI.

“There aren’t any awkward times,” he said. “That doesn’t mean there are not hard issues to address.”

Admiral Mullen said that administration and military officials continue to question the ISI’s support for extremist organizations, a relationship most often viewed as a secret strategy to maintain influence in Afghanistan as a hedge against Indian advances there. But Admiral Mullen said those disagreements had not halted a range of cooperation with the C.I.A.

Later Tuesday, speaking to members of the Pakistani press, Admiral Mullen denied reports that American combat troops had embedded with Pakistani units for military action inside the country. He said American military personnel in Pakistan are serving in a “training and support role. That’s it. That’s where we’ve been. That’s where we’ll be.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/wo...er=rss&emc=rss