The top US and Pakistani military leaders met in Spain to discuss ways to shore up strained ties after a US raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and a spike in violence in Afghanistan, a Pentagon spokesman said.
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen and Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani sat down for more than two hours of talks late on Friday on the sidelines of a NATO conference in Seville, Mullen’s spokesman Captain John Kirby told AFP late on Saturday. “They agreed that the relationship between our two countries remained vital to the region and that both sides had taken positive steps to improve that relationship over the past few months,” Kirby said.
“They also discussed the state of military-to-military cooperation and pledged to continue to find ways to make it better.” During his meeting with Kayani, Mullen expressed “deep concerns about the increasing – and increasingly brazen – activities of the Haqqani Network and restated his strong desire to see the Pakistani military take action against them and their safe havens in North Waziristan,” Kirby said.
Pakistan wants undisputed relation with US: FO
Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua on Sunday said Pakistan and the US were in close contact with each other, a private news channel reported. The Tehmina said Pakistan wanted an undisputed relation with the US and authorities on both sides would avoid giving undue statements.
She was commenting on US Ambassador Cameron Munter’s statement, in which he said that Pakistan was having strong links with the Haqqani Network. As reported earlier, the US ambassador said the Pakistan-based Haqqani network was behind last week’s Kabul siege and there was evidence linking the group to the Pakistani government. Monitoring Desk
