Haqqani Network is a big threat to Pakistan: Gen Dempsey

US Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey has said that the Haqqani Network was as big a threat to Pakistan as it was to Afghanistan and the United States.

Speaking to the media, the US military chief said they had not been able to find common ground on that and that was frustrating. Both Washington and Islamabad have failed to move forward on many issues including that of Haqqani Network and the presence of the Afghan Taliban in FATA.

He observed, “I’ve been working with US-Pakistan relations in earnest since 2005…its always surprising to me, we do some things very well, we have some interests on which we co-operate, and on some issues we have not been able to find common ground”.

Commenting on Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s remarks on the US being at war in FATA, he said that they were at war with al Qaeda. He confirmed the presence of Al-Qaeda in FATA, the Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas.

Dempsey noted, “Al Qaeda remains a factor both inside of the Federally Administered Tribal Area in Pakistan, to a much lesser extent inside Afghanistan.  And all I can tell you is that we remain at war with al Qaeda and we will confront them wherever we find them”.

He was of the opinion that they continue work with Islamabad on any number of things whether it was GLOC or the safe hideouts of the Taliban. The objective was to get the Haqqani Network’s influence to recede in the eastern part of Afghanistan, which is where the group was based and operated, he added.

The US military chief confessed that they had been focused on the southern part of Afghanistan, and in 2012 they are focusing on the eastern part of Afghanistan, the area where Haqqani group has presence.

In order to meet their smooth transition deadline, he said that they have to reduce the group’s influence in the region.

He also stated that they found solid proves that the Haqqani network was involved to the attacks in Afghanistan last month.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jun 8 2012. Filed under National, Pakistan, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.