Defence Secretary Robert Gates has brushed aside suggestions about Pakistan being responsible for the problems U.S. is facing in combating the Taliban in Afghanistan, saying there has been qualitative improvement in Islamabad-Washington ties over the last two years, with both sides deepening understanding of mutual threats.
“I think that the strategic dialogue we’ve had with the leaders of Pakistan ... has really enhanced the quality of the relationship. And I think that there is a growing common understanding of the mutual threats that we face,” he said while answering questions at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council 2010 Meeting.
He also cited cooperative anti-militant efforts by the two countries on both sides of the restive Afghan border.
Gates said the U.S. has no combat troops on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border and believes that Pakistani troops themselves should fight the militants operating on its soil.
The Pentagon leader urged patience when asked whether Pakistan is moving as aggressively against militants as Washington would have liked it to move.
Questioned if he sees the arc of U.S. political and military relationship with Pakistan going upwards or downwards, Secretary Gates replied: “I think it’s going up.”
“You know if you had told me two years ago that Pakistan would have 140,000 troops on its western border fighting Taliban and the various other terrorist groups that are in that area, I would have thought that impossible,” he elaborated.
“Is it as fast as we would like? No. But if you had told me, again, two years ago that they would have occupied (wrested back from militants) Swat and South Waziristan and be going after these people, be working with us and partnering with us as we coordinate on both sides of the border, I’d have thought that was a reach.
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