Amidst growing demand from United States lawmakers about becoming tough with Pakistan after the killing of Osama bin Laden in the country, a top Pentagon official on Wednesday warned that walking away from Islamabad at this point of time could backfire.
"We are in the midst, and have been, of trying to, in the middle of this war, with threats that they have in their territory, trying to build a relationship that was badly broken when we left the last time, when we terminated our relationship with them in the late '80s and early '90s. And we are back," Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Congressional hearing.
"It is actually my belief that if we were to do that again, it may not be five years or 10 years, but we'll be back in a much more difficult situation. So seeking to support stability in that part of the world to the degree that these two countries can evolve is. I think, a goal that we must continue to pursue -- or the danger associated with a country that's got a nuclear arsenal, that lives next to a country that they view as an existential threat, it's just a matter of time before we're back," Mullen said.
"So I don't push back on the challenge associated with it. Some of the criticism is more than warranted. Nobody's worked that harder than me, very frankly, with the leadership. It's a conscious decision I think that we have to make. If we walk away from it, it's my view it'll be a much more dangerous place a decade from now, and we'll be back," Mullen said.
