LAHORE – Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US , has said that it was “very possible” that Pakistan would be able to root out insurgents from havens inside its territory that serve as a launching point for lethal strikes in Afghanistan, the New York Times reported.
According to the report, Mullen echoed the Obama administration’s during a talk with reporters in Kabul, contending that efforts to beat back the insurgency inside Afghanistan would fail without better local and central governing and a healthier domestic economy.
“To make the kind of progress we need to make in Afghanistan, progress in Pakistan is equally critical,” Admiral Mullen said. He assured his audience that he had made clear to senior Pakistani military officials “my strong desire to see more action taken against these places and to root out the terrorists”.
He said that he had weighed Pakistani military gains against insurgent and terrorist cells over the past two years, and that “it is very possible that the Pakistan military can achieve the goal, as well, which shuts down those safe havens.”
During his tour of the region, Admiral Mullen urged “strategic patience” with Pakistan and said its leaders understood the threat to their own legitimacy from the domestic insurgency.
