Pakistan @ MindSay

By Gerry J. Gilmore

American Forces Press Service

Feb. 7, 2008 - The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff departed for Pakistan today to discuss security issues with Pakistani military officials, a senior U.S. military officer told Pentagon reporters here.  Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen also is slated to meet with U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson during his visit, Army Maj. Gen. Richard Sherlock, the Joint Staff's director of operational planning, said at a Pentagon news conference.

Mullen's mission in Pakistan will be "to build on relationships with his counterparts and to gain a better understanding of Pakistan's security challenges, which ultimately improve our vital cooperative efforts in fighting terrorists that threaten the stability of both Pakistan and Afghanistan," Sherlock explained.

The Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday requested Pentagon input regarding the effectiveness of U.S.-funded Pakistani military operations against reported Taliban, al Qaeda and other-insurgent activity along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Mullen were among several Pentagon senior officials who testified at yesterday's Senate hearing. Gates told legislators that U.S. military assistance has supported about 90 Pakistani army operations involving about 100,000 troops against insurgents operating in northwest Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas.

The senators concurred with Gates' suggestion that Navy Adm. William J. Fallon, commander of U.S. Central Command, prepare a report on U.S. funding for Pakistani military operations targeting the insurgents. It's expected that Fallon would provide the report sometime in March. Mullen told legislators at the Senate hearing that he'd discussed U.S.-funded Pakistani army operations with the CENTCOM commander.

Pakistan is a key U.S. ally in the war against global terrorism, Sherlock said today at the Pentagon. The United States and Pakistan, he added, have maintained a "wide variety" of discussions.

The general noted that the United States has a senior defense representative in Pakistan. "We have a constant dialogue and work with their military and with their government officials every day to share information (and) to offer our assistance where necessary," he said.

Pakistan has yet to request U.S. military help, Sherlock said. However, he added, U.S. special operations forces could help Pakistan develop military capacities to confront insurgents operating in the country's northwest region bordering Afghanistan.

"At this point, our goal is to look at Pakistan to help them grow in capacity and to assist where they would request us to assist," Sherlock said.

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

Jan. 24, 2008 - The United States remains "ready, willing and able" to assist Pakistan and partner with the nation as it takes on al Qaeda, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said during a Pentagon news conference today. Gates and Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen discussed the situation in Pakistan, saying the Pakistani government now understands the threat extremist groups in the country's federally administered tribal areas pose.

The U.S. military stands ready to provide additional training or to conduct joint operations with the Pakistani military. "We have an ongoing dialogue (with the Pakistanis)," Gates said. "I will just say that in a way, the emergence of this fairly considerable security challenge in Pakistan has really been brought home to the Pakistani government relatively recently, particularly by the tragic assassination of Mrs. (Benazir) Bhutto."

Bhutto, a former prime minister of Pakistan, was killed following a political rally Dec. 27.

Al Qaeda has threatened to destabilize Pakistan and has targeted Pakistani leaders, Gates said. U.S. officials believe that al Qaeda has allied with other extremist groups in the border area, the secretary said.

"I think we're all concerned about the re-establishment of al Qaeda safe havens in the border area," Gates said. "And I think it would be unrealistic to assume that all of the planning that they are doing is focused solely on Pakistan. I think it is a continuing threat to Europe as well as to us."

Pakistan's leaders are working through their strategy in the tribal areas. Mullen said that Pakistan is an important U.S. ally in the fight against terror, and America stands ready to provide assistance. "We've had a considerable training program with Pakistan for quite some time," the admiral said. "If there is a desire on the part of the Pakistani armed forces and the Pakistani government to have us assist, we would certainly try to do that."

Still, there is no move afoot for additional U.S. training cadres going into Pakistan, the chairman said. "The dialogue will continue, and the engagement is going to continue," he said.

Pakistan is a sovereign country, and Pakistani leaders will decide if forces from another country are needed in the fight against al Qaeda in the tribal areas, Gates said. "We will continue the dialogue, but we will not do anything without their approval," he said.

According to polls, the vast majority of Pakistanis do not want U.S. military assistance. If the government were to ask for U.S. aid, Pakistani leaders would have to evaluate what that move would mean domestically, Gates said.

Still, operations targeting al Qaeda would not mean vast numbers of American combat troops. "In my way of thinking, we are talking of a small number of U.S. troops, and that is clearly a pretty remote area," he said. "Again, the Pakistani government has to be the judge of this."

Mullen said that any aid would likely be training assistance. "A specific (example) may be helping train them in night operations," he said.

The United States is prepared to look at a range of ways to cooperate with Pakistan, Gates said. "But at this point, it's their nickel, and we await proposals and suggestions from them," he said.

I have this tendency to vent my emotions, every time some incident occurs that affects others on a global, national, or societal level, by means of writing down every ounce of my thoughts. Today I write about an event, actually a series of events – triggered by what was visibly a mere gun-shot, but swiftly evolving into a number of shots, a couple of bomb blasts, unnumbered casualties and riots activated by frustration – that occurred last evening. It left my country, not only with the loss of a lot of treasured lives but unleashed on us the frustration of thousands of people across the country who took to the streets proclaiming their anger for the assassination of the politician who they were supposedly “religiously devoted” to.

But what sort of way is this, to prove one’s love and dedication? Burning up cars and trucks, breaking shops and people’s faces, terrorizing others around you – it all symbolises a nation submerged so far deep into frustration that it would take nothing less than a supernatural force to drag it out before it drowns. And what we do within the boundaries of our lavishly decorated homes, while watching this on TV is shake our heads with disappointment at the conditions of our country. Curse the politicians, curse the people, curse the country, then have dinner and plop down on our beds for a good night’s sleep. Oh and then when we cannot find the excuse for the occurrence of the event – cannot find enough witnesses to blame it on – we blame it on Islamic extremism. Yes of course, our brother by religion Osama sitting in some god forsaken cave of Afghanistan – the Director of world wide terrorism – is always ready to take the blame! Some video or the other miraculously appears out of no where just in time to prove to the world that it has INDEED been Al-Qaeda that blew up some random truck in a random part of the world. It is this kind of a supernatural force – one that conjures up videos on the nick of time and knows EXACTLY how to manoeuvre the media – that our country needs to steer itself towards sanity.

We are a nation, numb – devoid of any feeling whatsoever towards the agonies constantly being inflicted on our society as Pakistanis and as Muslims. Every time an incident occurs that could be classified as miles apart from humanitarianism, our television channels are bombarded with the most retarded of songs and video clippings to commemorate the loss of whatever it is that has been lost. Television channel logos go black and white to represent the supposed grief our nation feels. Three days later, it is back to the same old half clad girls prancing on television to sell the most unnecessary of products and worthless TV shows that make our lives miserable rather than easy. If we were not so numb, such events would have easily triggered an unstoppable revolution that would have reached far and wide affecting us positively and leading this nation-gone-astray closer to sensibility. I am not saying that we live forever inundated by the tears of grief for the destruction around us, keeping aside everything else. Life has to be taken as it comes, but at the same time what is happening should NEVER stop affecting us. Things need to be done individually and collectively. It is exactly events like these that caused the Third Estate in France to rebel and bring about a revolution, discarding the monarchy, corruption and uneven distribution of wealth that plagued the country. Burning and breaking what belongs to our country and people is not what will lead to the revolution. It is intelligently using our strength as an unstoppable mob to bring down the selfish, power-thirsty individuals that are constantly struggling to force us into a hypnosis of helplessness and poverty of money and free-thinking.

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

Nov. 15, 2007 - U.S. officials are satisfied that Pakistani nuclear weapons are under sufficient security, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today.  During a Pentagon news conference, Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen said that while there has been a lot of discussion about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear weapons, "I'd like to be very clear, I don't see any indication right now that security of those weapons is in jeopardy."

U.S. officials are watchful, as they should be, he said.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf placed the country under "emergency measures" – essentially martial law – Nov. 3. Under the measures, Musharraf also suspended Pakistan's constitution, deposed the nation's supreme court chief and deployed troops to fight what he called rising Islamic extremism.

Military-to-military contacts between the United States and Pakistan continue, Mullen said. "I see no disruption to that because the emergency measures are in place," he said.

The chairman also said he sees no indication of, nor does he anticipate, an interruption in the supply line through Pakistan to U.S. forces fighting in Afghanistan.

In fact, he said, there are no major changes to our military relations with Pakistan.