Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said that the U.S. is now going to have to take a tougher line in demanding that Pakistan rein in terror groups.
“I am losing people, and I am just not going to stand for that. I have been Pakistan’s best friend. What does it say when I am at that point? What does it say about where we are?” Admiral Mullen told The Wall Street Journal in an interview.
Admiral Mullen who demits office by the end of this month said he was leaving with a muddled legacy on Pakistan, an area which he had made a top priority because its border region has been a haven for al-Qaeda and other militant groups intent on attacking U.S. interest.
Explaining his switch, Admiral Mullen, said that the partnership approach with Islamabad, which he had long championed had fallen short and would be difficult to revive.
The Admiral took his conclusions to Congress last week where he declared publicly — what until then had been confined to private remarks — that Pakistan’s military intelligence is collaborating with a militant group that U.S. links for attack on Americans in Afghanistan, triggering a major rift between the two nations.
The shift by Admiral Mullen infuriated officials in Islamabad, who deny supporting militants, and cast a pall of uncertainty over the tenuous U.S.-Pakistan bond, the daily reported.
