Pakistan has offered to play a central role in resolving the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan and hold talks with the Taliban. Pakistan's proposal is likely to be discussed when National Security Adviser General James L Jones visits Islamabad later this week, says the report. United States has reacted cautiously to Pakistan's renewed interest in seeking dialogue with the Taliban.
'I think it's really important that we work as hard as we can with each other, and that any kind of public accusations or public finger pointing, quite frankly, that does not serve any of us well. That doesn't mean we won't have disagreements. But I hope that we can do that privately, and not publicly,' The Dawn quoted Mullen, as saying.
"I also believe India plays an important role here (in Afghanistan)," Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff told media persons at the Washington Foreign Press Centre, in response to question on role of regional countries in Afghanistan.
A top US military official today said there is no silver bullet for Afghanistan and the ultimate success there will be cumulative effect of sustained pressure across multiple lines of operation.Success will come only by and through a concerted effort by other agencies and other partners," Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a news briefing in Washington.
"He (Zawahiri) and his organisation still threaten us. As we did both seek to capture and kill and succeed in killing bin Laden, we certainly do or will do the same thing with Zawahiri," Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told media persons at a Pentagon news conference.
A top United States military commander has warned that it would be "dangerous" to abandon Pakistan now as he feared this would lead to instability in the region witnessed in the 1990s. Admitting that US-Pakistan relations were going through "pretty rough times", Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, "I think the worst thing we could do would be cut them off," BBC reported. Mullen feared it would be a repeat of the instability in the 1990s.
The Indian Army has voiced fears to Washington that Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba may attempt to strike at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. The fears were conveyed to top US military commander Admiral Mike Mullen during his meetings in New Delhi. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's commanders believe that the LeT is behind a string of attacks and influx of fighters into eastern Afghanistan.
Talking to media-persons on his special aircraft en route to New Delhi, United States Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, while praising India for showing restraint after the ghastly 26/11 attacks, said extremists may try to repeat the incident that left 166 dead and over 300 injured. "I've worried a great deal about a repeat attack, of something like that," The Dawn newspaper quoted Mullen as saying
Pakistan believes that nuclear weapons are its "crown jewels" and a deterrent against India, a top US military official has said, even as he expressed deep concern over the safety of the nukes in the country. "These (nuclear weapons) are their crown jewels," Admiral Mike Mullen Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
In a pessimistic assessment of the Afghan war, a top US military official said on Wednesday that after years of neglect, America is basically "starting over" its battle against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, whose alliance is now stronger than ever.
A top United States military official on Friday said that the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban leadership are trying to gain access to nuclear weapons.
Army chief General Deepak Kapoor on Thursday met his United States counterpart and other top ranking military officers and discussed various issues including joint training and exercises between the two countries. General Kapoor, who is on a five day visit to the US, met Joint Chiefs of Staff committee Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, US army chief General George W Casey Junior and Central Command Chief General David H Petraeus in Washington.
Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor has arrived in Washington on a week-long visit to the United States, during which he is expected to hold discussions with top US military leadership on a wide range of bilateral issues, besides the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. General Kapoor is scheduled to meet Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, his counterpart in the US Army General George W Casey and Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
In an interview to CBS Face the Nation, Chairman of America's Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said Pakistan Army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is focused on both -- the threat from India and that from internal insurgency.
The Taliban against whom US-led forces are fighting in Afghanistan grew "more effective" in the last three years because they had "safe haven" in the tribal areas of Pakistan to "rest" and "train" before returning to fight, US' top military commander has said.
In his first briefing for the new year on the United States National Security Strategy Update, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, while replying to a query, blurted out that Pakistan is the epicenter of terrorism in the world.
Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who just couldn't stop praising Pakistani Army General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani , told Congress Thursday that Kayani has purged the so-called 'rogue' elements from the ISI who are in cahoots with the Taliban.
The Al Qaeda network is not located in Afghanistan, but clearly headquartered in Pakistan, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen told Congress Thursday, and warned that if the Taliban takes over Afghanistan again, it would mean the return of al Qaeda to Afghanistan to plan and plot attacks against the US reminiscent of 9/11.
Saying that the challenges the United States faces in Pakistan are far greater to that in Afghanistan, Senator John F Kerry, the chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, warned that if Pakistan, "a nuclear-armed nation of 170 million people" becomes a failed state, it would pose 'an unimaginable peril to itself, its neighbors and the world.'
Amid growing global concerns over Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling in the hands of the Taliban, the top United States military official on Monday said it remains a "strategic concern" but the atomic arsenal of Islamabad are secure as of now.
Special United States Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, who was once speculated to be US President Obama's trouble-shooter to Kashmir, is so sensitive to creating an uproar in New Delhi if he speaks about Kashmir, that he doesn't even want to say the 'K word.'
Noting that Americans are pretty impatient, he said: "It's going to take a patience to return that relationship to the strong one that used to be there with a country that is really critical and vital in that part of the world and has its own challenges, the extremist and terrorist challenges... It's a very serious problem."
Welcoming India's decision to reduce troops from Jammu and Kashmir, a top US military official said on Tuesday that de-tensioning of that border was absolutely critical to the long-term stability of the region.
Acknowledging that India is a big player in the region, a top US military leader has said that the relationship between India and Pakistan is critical for the stability in the region.
America's top military official, on a second visit to Islamabad since the Mumbai terror attacks, has persuaded the country to do more to address India's concerns on terrorists operating from its soil in order to defuse tensions between the two nations.
In a bid to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan, United States on Monday rushed its top Army official to Islamabad, to hold discussions with the country's political leadership. US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen arrived in Islamabad today on an unscheduled visit, second after the November 26 terror strikes in Mumbai that killed more than 180 people. Mullen met Pakistani national security advisor Mehmood Ali Durrani shortly after his arrival.
A top US military commander on Wednesday admitted that its forces in Afghanistan have been "under-resourced", and underlined the "urgency" for a change in its strategy to fight insurgency in the troubled country.
The US said that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, which so far had focused primarily on India, is having global aspirations and has spread its tentacles beyond Pakistan and Afghanistan, as manifested by the David Headley case. "Generally, LeT was east focused on India. They're now in the west. Actually, they're not just in the west, focused on Pakistan. There are LeT elements focused on Afghanistan," Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said.
Al Qaeda remains "very capable" and focused on attacking the United States, a top American military official said on Sunday, adding the situation in Afghanistan is "serious" and "deteriorating" as the militants have found a "safe haven in Pakistan."
While officials of the two allies offered few details on Wednesday about what was decided or even discussed at the meeting -- including any new strategies, tactics, weapons or troop deployment -- the star-studded list of participants and an extreme secrecy surrounding the talks, New York Times said the talks underscored how gravely the two nations regarded the growing militant threat.
"As the ISI tries to rein in those militant proxies that have slipped from Islamabad's grasp, it will likely try to regain their support by redirecting their attention away from Pakistan and toward India, an enemy on which both Islamabad and the militants can agree. As a result, it is likely India will come under attack again," Stratfor warned.
Acknowledging that trust deficit existed between the United States and Pakistan, America's top military general on Monday said it would take a long time for both countries to bridge that gap.
Terming the Mumbai attacks as a new kind of terrorism, a top United States military officer said it differed from other such incidents as a group of 10 terrorists brought the two nuclear armed neighbours on the brink of a war. The Joint Chief of US Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who had visited New Delhi soon after the Mumbai attacks, was addressing a conference in Washington on "Global Trends and Security" on Thursday, organised by the Princeton University.
There is no evidence so far that anybody in a senior position in Pakistan Army or the Inter-Services Intelligence had any knowledge about the presence of Osama bin Laden at a safe house in an Islamabad suburb, a top Pentagon official has said.
Welcoming President Barack Obama's new Afghan policy, the top US military commander said the decision to start withdrawing of troops from the war-torn country in 18 months is not an exit, but it is a strategy of transfer and transition.
Describing the increasing Indo-US military cooperation as "positive", a top Pentagon official said the growing defence links reflects the continuing and emerging relationship between the two nations.
Those who plotted the deadly attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, are still alive and planning to carry out more terror strikes, a top United States military general has said.
Observing that Pakistan is a "critical country" for the US in the long run, a top American General has said Washington wants to have a long-term partnership with Islamabad.
In a damning indictment, a top United States General has said the Inter Services Intelligence is fomenting 'chaotic activity' in Kashmir and Afghanistan and asked the Pakistani spy agency to change its 'strategic thrust'. The US is having 'discussions' with the Pakistani leadership on this issue, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. Elaborating, he said the ISI has been supporting militant groups in Kashmir and FATA in Afghanistan.
The US defence department chose to sidestep queries on whether it had the authority to carry out unilateral action against Taliban or al Qaeda leadership on Pakistani soil but pressed Islamabad to "move rapidly" against the militants in its restive tribal areas.
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