Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Martin E Dempsey joined Defence Secretary Leon E Panetta on Thursday in expressing unhappiness with Pakistan’s progress in battling the Haqqani network’s use of safe havens in Pakistan.
Pakistan is working to battle other threats within FATA, Dempsey told reporters. “Although we are extraordinarily dissatisfied with the effect that Pakistan has had on the Haqqani network, we are also mindful that they are conducting military operations, at great loss elsewhere,” Dempsey said.
Regional Command East, which includes Khost and Logar provinces, has seen an uptick in activity, largely due increased activity by the Haqqani network, Dempsey said. The Haqqani network was as big a threat to Pakistan as it was to Afghanistan and the United States, Dempsey said. He added that the US would continue to work with Pakistan to find common ground on ways to deal with the cross-border threat posed by the Haqqani network and other groups.
In addition to the recent activity by the Haqqani network, Dempsey said al Qaeda remained a threat in Pakistan, particularly within FATA, and to a lesser extent within Afghanistan. Coalition efforts had been very successful in eliminating al Qaeda leaders, though others continue to take their place, he added. Dempsey cited the June 4 death of Abu Yahya Al-Libi, al Qaeda’s second in command, as an example of those successes, calling it a significant loss for the terror group. “Most of those who 10 years ago we began tracking are no longer a part of al Qaeda, they’re no longer part of any organization,” Dempsey said. “We are at war with al Qaeda and we will pursue them wherever we find them,” he said.
‘Extraordinarily dissatisfied with Pakistani action against Haqqanis’
