Gen Kayani, John Allen agrees on cross-border cooperation

In what appeared to be a positive step to cope the threat of terrorism, Pakistan and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have been agreed on cross-border cooperation.

General John R Allen, Commander of the ISAF, held a meeting with Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and discussed issues of bilateral cooperation.

According to a joint press release of the Pakistan Army and ISAF, the purpose of his visit was to build on the positive momentum established during last month’s meeting of the Pakistan-Afghanistan-ISAF Tripartite Commission.

The press note further said that all stakeholders further discussed the mutual progress made to eliminate terrorism, combat extremism and ensuring that the territory of both Pakistan and Afghanistan are not used as safe hideouts to launch attacks against each other.

Gen Kayani also discussed current operational realties with Gen Allen. The two officials expressed the willingness to achieve the joint targets set in the trilateral military conference, held last month.

The press note quoting Gen Allen said, “This visit helped advance our efforts to achieve the regional stability. Additionally, the meeting provided us perfect opportunity to refocus our attention on our continuing efforts to eliminate the corrosive effects of extremists operating on both sides of the border”.

The ISAF Commander’s visit is in the backdrop to a deadly cross-border attack by over 100 insurgents in the border area, targeting a patrol party of Pakistani security forces.

According to the military officials, some 14 militants were killed in the operation while 14 personnel embraced martyrdom.

Earlier, General Kayani told the visiting ISAF Commander that insurgents returned to Afghanistan and roamed freely in the war-torn country after launching attacks on Pakistani forces.

The military chief further asked the NATO General to take action against the Maulvi Fazlullah-led branch of militants.

In reply, General John Allen asked Pakistani to take action against Haqqani network, saying that Maulvi Fazlullah was involved in terrorist activities in Afghanistan and was operating from Pakistan’s tribal areas.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=27612

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jun 30 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. 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.