The United States continues to seek a relationship with Pakistan that is constructive and mutually beneficial, and that advances both US and Pakistani interests, a Pentagon report released on Tuesday said.
The 2013 report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan, submitted to Congress, noted that the US-Pakistan relationship had normalised since 2012 and both the countries had reaffirmed the importance of maintaining bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual concern.
The report acknowledged Pakistan’s counterterrorism cooperation and the key significance of its ground lines of communication into and out of landlocked Afghanistan.
“Pakistan has demonstrated a willingness to cooperate on some key US goals, although challenges remain. Pakistan has publicly committed to playing a positive role in a genuine Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process, and Pakistan’s support has been essential to US retrograde operations in preparation for the drawdown in Afghanistan.”
In addition, the report noted, Pakistan continued to cooperate on some counterterrorism activities.
“The Pakistani military has made many sacrifices to achieve significant territorial gains against the Tehreek-e Taliban (TTP) and other militant groups in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which have disrupted insurgent groups by reducing their safe havens.”
At the same time, it recognised Pakistan’s military efforts to counter terrorists along the Afghan border.
“In spring 2013, the Pakistan military launched operations against the TTP in Khyber Agency to enhance security near the border and deter attacks against Pakistani and Afghan targets.”
Since July 2012, Pakistan has also sought to increase its engagement with Afghanistan. Bilateral visits between Pakistan and Afghanistan have increased over the past year, including visits by foreign minister and army chief General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani to Afghanistan. However, there are limits to Pakistani cooperation, the report claims.
“Overall, relations between Pakistan and the United States have stabilised,” the report said.
Appreciating the availability of Pakistan’s overland routes, the report said the United States and other coalition nations also began transporting a small amount of materiel into and out of Afghanistan through the Pakistani ground lines of communication (GLOC), greatly reducing the transportation time and cost of using other routes.
As of the end of the reporting period, the Pakistani GLOC was capable of handling all of the cargo headed into and out of Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan-Pakistan military-to-military coordination has strengthened, including joint border operations and the possibility of future officer training exchanges. Nonetheless, cooperation along the border remains uneven,” it said.
On the scope for Pakistan-Afghanistan trade cooperation, the report said, Pakistan remained the single largest trading partner and most convenient source of goods and transit routes to markets for Afghanistan.
On Afghanistan, the biannual report said Afghan national security forces were in the lead throughout the country, and they continued to make progress.
Over the past decade, Afghan forces have increased their numbers and capabilities and gradually are taking over security operations from American, NATO and partner nations.
Pentagon officials said the time period covered by the report generally lags present day by about three months, and that the report released on Tuesday covers October 1, 2012, to March 31 of this year.
“The Afghans are in the lead,” the report said, “and they are in a position to build on the success of the International Security Assistance Force.”
“The progress made by [the] ISAF-led surge over the past three years has put the [Afghan] government firmly in control of all of Afghanistan’s major cities and 34 provincial capitals and driven the insurgency into the countryside,” the report said.
Afghan forces were at 96 percent of their authorised end strength of 352,000, the report said, and these forces were conducting almost all operations independently.
