Thaindian News

Washington, Dec.9 (ANI): US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen has suggested that pressure from India on Pakistan’s western border with Afghanistan would eventually help America to destroy and dismantle the terror safe haven present in the lawless tribal region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

“I look at this, strategically, over the long run that it’s the pressure brought from the east, if you will, on the western border of Pakistan and the pressure in Afghanistan that will eventually allow us to get at and eliminate those safe havens,” Mullen told PBS’s News Hour.

Backing President Obama’s decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, Mullen said Afghanistan’s stability is very important for Pakistan’s future.

“I also believe that Pakistan’s future will in great part be driven by what kind of country Afghanistan is, stable or unstable, and that a stable, supportive government in Afghanistan will be very helpful to how Pakistan looks at its future and the decisions it makes,” he said.

The top US official also rejected sending any troops to Pakistan apart from a small contingent for training Pakistan’s military, that too on the request of that country’s leadership.

“There (on the Pak-Afghan border), we have got troops, a small number of troops, training, at the Pakistani government and Pakistani military request, as they address this fight, but outside that kind of training support, no other troops,” Mullen said. (ANI)