Pakistan not given enough credit, says Mullen

WASHINGTON: Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen has said that Pakistan does not get enough credit for its role in the war against extremists although some of its achievements were ‘pretty extraordinary’.
‘Too many people eagerly and easily criticise Pakistan for what they haven’t done, and when I go to Swat and look at what they did there on the military side I think it’s pretty extraordinary,’ said the US military chief while talking to journalists on Sunday.
A report released on Monday by the American Forces Press Service, noted that last week Pakistani authorities arranged for Admiral Mullen to visit Swat and showed him the areas they had retaken from the Taliban.
‘Swat was in danger, and the Taliban began moving even closer to the Pakistani capital. Admiral Mullen’s visit there showed that the Pakistani military has done a good job of counter-insurgency. The army cleared the valley and is holding it,’ the report noted.
It quoted Admiral Mullen as saying that while Pakistan’s job in Swat was not complete yet, what Pakistanis had achieved so far was remarkable.
The report noted that more than most US officials, Admiral Mullen had a cordial and long-standing relationship with the Pakistani military.
The report pointed out that Admiral Mullen ‘advises patience and humility’ in dealing with Pakistan, a view not shared by some leading Republicans in Congress.
Separately, the Pentagon reported that Admiral Mullen signed guidelines for the US military for 2010, which goes to members of the Joint Staff and informs the joint force.
Al-Qaeda and similar terrorist groups remained the biggest threat to the United States, the admiral wrote in the guidance. ‘The threat is still real,’ he said. Defeating those groups will take more than military power, and the admiral called on the US military to work with other national agencies and international allies to take on the threat.
President Obama’s strategy has the goal of defeating Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan and to prevent the group from threatening America and its allies, he noted.
‘Our main effort now must be to push forces into the theatre as quickly as possible – including shifting the balance of enablers from Iraq,’ the admiral wrote. The enablers include such things as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, engineers, military police and civil affairs personnel.
All aspects of the joint force needed to act more quickly, he said, urging the Defence Department and the combatant commands to send their very best people to fight the wars.