ISLAMABAD, 10 October 2006 — The commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan arrived here yesterday for talks on military cooperation.
Britain’s Gen. David Richards, who last week became commander of foreign troops across Afghanistan, is visiting Islamabad amid concerns about Taleban militants moving across the rugged border with Pakistan.
Richards, a British officer who commands NATO’s 32,000 troops in Afghanistan, arrived for a two-day visit, Pakistan’s military-run Inter-Services Public Relations directorate said in a statement.
Richards’ visit comes amid protracted efforts by Pakistani and Afghan authorities to seal their frontier, where pro-Taleban forces and Al-Qaeda militants, including Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding.
On Sunday, Richards told the Associated Press in the Afghan capital, Kabul, that he would call for “partnership and cooperation rather than confrontation” with Pakistan.
Richards is due to hold talks with Pakistan’s Vice Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ahsan Saleem Hayat and they were expected to discuss “matters of professional interest,” military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told AFP.
He could not say whether Richards would meet Gen. Musharraf and described as “speculative” a report in Britain’s Sunday Times that Richards would confront the president about the Taleban insurgency. However, another senior security official told AFP that Richards was expected to hold talks with Musharraf today.
The report said that Richards would try to persuade key US ally Musharraf to rein in his military intelligence service, alleged to be involved in training Taleban fighters.
“We’ve got to accept that the Pakistan government is not omnipotent and it isn’t easy but it has to be done and we’re working very hard on it,” he was quoted as saying.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said that Richards “may or may not” meet Musharraf.
It has also rejected The Sunday Times report, saying the visit would include “full and frank” discussions aimed at developing cooperation on the military side.
ISAF is party to regular meetings between Pakistan and Afghanistan about the insurgency, with militants widely agreed to be moving across the porous and rugged border between the two countries.
Richards’ trip was in the context of these tripartite meetings, the next of which is due in Afghanistan in the coming weeks although a date has not yet been fixed, ISAF said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said NATO commanders routinely visit the South Asian country to strengthen military cooperation.
“NATO central command officials continue to visit Pakistan frequently and this is basically to coordinate our joint efforts to consult and to review the situation,” Tasnim said.
“We will see what he has to present,” she said responding to questions about Sunday Times report. Afghan and Western officials have accused Pakistan of sheltering Taleban. Pakistan rejects such claims, saying it has deployed about 80,000 troops along its border with Afghanistan to track down militants.
