CENTCOM Chief to Visit Pakistan

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Pakistanis and Afghans are really fed up of the war going on in the region for the past 10 years. I hope the Americans genuinely involve a broad spectrum of people from Pakistan and Afghanistan to chalk out their strategy which is based on mutual respect and trust so that we could see the end of the crisis. For that the talks should be on an equal basis, and all three parties concerned should try to listen to the others and devise the end plan accordingly. Dunya News: Pakistan:-CENTCOM chief to visit Pakistan

Last Updated On 07 March,2012 About2 minutes ago
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**US CENTCOM chief, Gen. James Mattis intends to travel to Pakistan. **

The Commander of the Unites States Central Command, en. James Mattis has said that he is traveling to Pakistan within the next 10 days or so, where he would engage in discussions with Pakistan s military leadership, in a bid to streamline some of the issues cropped up in the recent part, particularly after the NATO airstrike on Salala check-post in Mohmand on Nov 26 that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

While speaking during a hearing of the US Senate s Armed Services Committee on Defense Authorizations for 2013 Tuesday, he, however, did acknowledge that border coordination with Pakistan at different levels had been continuing after the Salala firing incident. Pakistan had initially withdrawn troops from border coordination posts before sending them back after hectic consultations between US, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Responding to a question of Senator Richard Blumenthal about efforts undertaken by Pakistan for stopping the flow of IEDs from tribal areas to Afghanistan, Gen. Mattis said that Pakistani tribal areas “have a unique status and there area number of factors for transportation of IEDs”.

“My impression is that Pakistani security forces are not doing enough”, Senator Blumenthal asserted. “I ll have to check whether the Pakistani forces are doing enough or not, before getting back to you about it”, Gen. Mattis replied.

Ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, Senator John McCain, in his opening remarks on the occasion, also expressed concern about the alleged support of terrorist networks like the Haqqani network by Pakistan s intelligence agencies. This practice, he believed, was continuing despite US demands from Pakistan to check it without any delay.

Adminiral William McRaven, Commander of the US Special Operations Command, alluded to the recent reports of a deadlock between US and Afghan authorities over the issue of handing-over of prisoners and night-raids. “We remain concerned about the capability of Afghanistan in handling the prisoners as they are demanding now”, he said.

“We think night raids are the best option for going after the militants because it minimises the chance of harming civilian individuals. We don t understands why president Karazai is against the night raids because these have Afghans in the lead during such operations”, he went on to add.

The CENTCOM chief, Gen. Jmaes Mattis, in response to another question said that the US did not have a designated facility now where they could put the detainees arrested from the battlefield. “Decision to not shift any new detainees to Gunatanamo is a policy decision”, he said adding that the decision on “where to put new detainees, taken in custody from Afghanistan or Pakistan, requires a government to government agreement”.

On the questions from Senators about the alleged threats emanating from Iran, Gen. Mattis said that the “Iranian threat is on four lines, including their nuclear program, long range missile ballistic threat, maritime threat and and their secret services and proxies that they support”. “These concerns are for US and our friends in that region but we are trying to check and contain each of these threats from Iran”, he assured.

  • Contributed by Awais Saleem, Dunya News correspondent in Washington, DC

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Re: CENTCOM Chief to Visit Pakistan

I highly doubt he will come in the next 10 days. They have refused to have anybody come since the Nov 26 incident. And Parliament is continually delaying the review of relations. This will take another month or two before there is a true thaw and people move back and forth like before.

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Re: CENTCOM Chief to Visit Pakistan

There is this news as well: Army has its eye on Nato supplies deal | Newspaper | DAWN.COM

Whenever he comes I hope all countries involved genuinely move ahead towards the end of the conflict as it has the potential to damage the peace of the whole region. America being a super power will have to take the lead in creating an atmosphere of trust so that all can move forward. We have already lost countless lives and the destruction of the economy of both countries. Once this issue is sorted out, other issues like economy, development, energy, health and education will need to be expedited especially in the war ravaged areas. As long as this war will continue, the people of both the countries will suffer and with no economy in the areas concerned there will always be recruits for joining the war.

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Re: CENTCOM Chief to Visit Pakistan

Some of the sensitivities that countries have for each other:

Afghanistan and US believe that Pakistan is supporting taleban (Quetta shura and Haqqani Network)

Pakistan believes that US (and Afghanistan) is supporting TTP and the Baloch militants

US would have some strategic vision for the areas as well, but that should not come at the expense of the region's stability as that would be a lose lose situation for the region.

I am not really sure what's the deal between the Govt of Pakistan and the Americans, but the drone attacks, and any acts which show US violating Pakistani sovereignty (drone attacks etc) is doing more bad than good. Anything that can portray Americans as arrogant pushes the sympathy of some people towards the militants. If the Americans can positively contribute in having the Balochistan issue resolved would also be a good step (care should be adopted in this as well as it can give a notion of Americans interfering in Pakistan's affairs as well).

The situation of the region is already bad, and if another conflict is opened now (like Iran) it would destabilize most of the middle east and south asia and result in further chaos.

If US tries to debate with the countries concerned as an equal partner I dont see how this issue couldnt be resolved amicably.

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The Centcom chief visits Pakistan, yesterday Gillani met with Obama.

Dunya News: Pakistan:-Top US generals arrive in Pakistan for talks…

US Central Command Commander General James N. Mattis, and ISAF Commander in Afghanistan General John Allen will call on Pakistan’s Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, today.

The November 26 strikes, for which the United States has so far refused to apologise, prompted Pakistan to shut its Afghan border to NATO supplies and evict American personnel from an air base reportedly used in its drone war against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

According to a statement issued by ISPR, It is the first high level meeting after Salala incident and will focus on the inquiry into the incident and improvements in Border Coordination Procedures.

On Thursday, US President Barack Obama met Pakistans Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani at a nuclear summit in Seoul, and vowed to rescue their troubled alliance which almost ruptured over months of mistrust and recriminations.

It was the highest-level exchange between the two sides since the killing of Osama bin Laden in a clandestine US raid last May, which humiliated Pakistan and raised fresh questions about its allegiance in the war on terror.

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Re: CENTCOM Chief to Visit Pakistan

It would be fun to see which one of his entourage is our dear guppie, Mr. Centcom.

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Re: CENTCOM Chief to Visit Pakistan

while the army was showing that the relationship was on hold: (http://tribune.com.pk/story/357267/i-met-gen-kayani-five-times-after-salala-episode-dempsey/)

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This is the nub of the problem which could be duely attributed to world-famous American arrogance. The country whose overconfidence was laid to rest in Vietnam and which miraculously avoided default recently, is still not willing to accept the reality that in some cases, there are people who could think and do better than the US. The obsession of making things work for them through their mighty war machine is the only way they know to operate. I had recently quoted Winston Churchill in a thread and just cannot help doing so again: Americans will do the right thing after they’ve exhausted all the alternatives."

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Re: CENTCOM Chief to Visit Pakistan

Ties Ease With Pakistan - WSJ.com

**The top U.S. military officer said Thursday that ties between the U.S. and Pakistan were on the “road to recovery” and that he hoped to resolve differences by mid-May to allow the reopening of supply lines for troops into neighboring Afghanistan.
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Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, didn’t say whether any agreements emerged from talks among the two nations’ top commanders Wednesday in Islamabad.

The talks involved Marine Gen. James Mattis, the senior U.S. military officer for the region, and Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

The two met Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in the first such session since relations were ruptured when U.S. helicopters accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in an airstrike in November.

Gen. Mattis departed Pakistan on Thursday, the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said in a statement that provided few details of the talks.

**Gen. Dempsey said the start of the warm weather fighting season in Afghanistan and the planned withdrawal this year of 23,000 U.S. troops, along with equipment, added to the urgency of reaching a deal to reopen overland supply routes through Pakistan.
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Pakistan shut the routes after the November airstrike, forcing the U.S. and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies to find alternative routes. Pakistan also suspended high-level civilian and diplomatic meetings with U.S. officials and ejected the U.S. from an air base it had used to launch drone strikes.

“Military to military, we’re on the road to recovery,” Gen. Dempsey told reporters aboard a U.S. military aircraft at the end of a four-day Latin America trip.

While stopping short of pointing to any specific achievements Wednesday, Gen. Dempsey said, "The most important thing is that we are back in physical contact with our Pakistani counterparts."Officials said the U.S. has yet to resolve all outstanding differences with Pakistan.

A Pakistani parliamentary commission last week called for an apology from the U.S. for the killings of its soldiers, and for an end to Central Intelligence Agency drone strikes in Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s military can’t reopen supply routes until the parliamentary debate about U.S. ties is over, analysts said.Gen. Dempsey said he wasn’t surprised that a deal to reopen NATO supply lines through Pakistan was not announced after the meeting with Gen. Kayani. “Military guys establish relationships, but they don’t make policy decisions, even in a country like Pakistan,” Gen. Dempsey said.

**The general said he would recommend putting the supply line issue at the top of the U.S.'s list of issues that Washington hopes to resolve with Pakistan before a NATO summit in Chicago in May.
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**He said the U.S. and Pakistan need to “rack and stack” the outstanding issues that need to be addressed.****“My personal military advice would be that I’d like to see that issue reconciled, resolved before the NATO summit, because it is affecting NATO,” Gen. Dempsey said of the supply routes.
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Military officials in Washington say Pakistan’s closure of NATO resupply routes has not impacted the alliance’s operations thus far. That is because the U.S. has expanded its use of an alternative Northern Distribution Network, through Central Asia. Officials say the effects of the closure may have also been tempered by the harsh Afghan winter, which slowed the tempo of fighting.

But officials said pressure on NATO’s resupply chain will increase as fighting picks up this spring and summer. Warmer weather will make it easier for fighters in Pakistan to cross through the frozen mountain passes back into Afghanistan to step up their attacks, increasing the tempo of military operations as well as NATO’s demand for supplies like fuel and ammunition.

Gen. Dempsey said reopening land routes through Pakistan also is important to allow for the smooth departure of equipment out of Afghanistan as the U.S. troop presence shrinks.“We’ve spent a good 10 solid years flowing equipment into Afghanistan and we are now beginning the process of flowing equipment out and it’s certainly better to be able to do that in two directions, both through the Pakistan [route] and the Northern Distribution Network,” Gen. Dempsey said.