ISLAMABAD, 13 February 2007 — US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday Pakistan remained a strong US ally in the war on terrorism and vowed to work with the government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to combat the Taleban in the neighboring country.
He said the United States would not repeat the “mistake” of neglecting Afghanistan and allowing Taleban and Al-Qaeda extremists to take over.
After meeting with Musharraf for about an hour, Gates told reporters the two had discussed how Pakistan and the United States can work together on a spring offensive against the Taleban.
“We discussed the coming spring military activity on the border and the measures that the Afghans and the NATO alliance and the US and Pakistan are working on together,” Gates said.
“During spring we will be needing more and more cooperation from Pakistan as we anticipate intensified activities from the Taleban and the Al-Qaeda terrorists,” he said.
Gates said he hoped to play a constructive role in improving the relationship between Musharraf and the Afghan government. He reiterated other US officials’ remarks that the United States neglected Afghanistan for 20 years, contributing to a rise in terrorism in the region and the strengthening of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan where the terrorist group was harbored by the Taleban.
“My first visits to Pakistan were over 20 years ago and we were in contact with our mutual efforts to help Afghanistan drive the Soviet troops from the country,” Gates said.
“After the Soviets left, the US made a mistake. We neglected Afghanistan and extremists took control of this country — and the United States had the result of that on Sept. 11, 2001,” he said.
Gates stressed the importance of cooperation between Pakistan, Afghan and foreign forces.
He said the Pakistani leader — who on Feb. 2 admitted some overstretched border guards had let militants across — had been meeting with his military commanders to see how to improve their border security.
Before leaving Munich, where he attended a regional security conference, Gates responded Sunday to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assault on US foreign policy by saying “one Cold War is enough” and that he would go to Moscow to try to reduce tensions. Gates also sought more allied help in Afghanistan.
After four days of entreaties to NATO allies, seeking more military and economic development resources for the Afghanistan war, Gates tacked 30 hours of travel onto his trip to meet with President Musharraf. The lengthy detour underscored how critical this time is in the Afghan conflict, which has dragged on for five years, and has seen escalating violence and a persistent problem with Taleban militants crossing over the porous border from Pakistan. “I think there’s a mutual interest in improving our effectiveness and improving our coordination, and the understanding that we have a real opportunity this spring,” Gates said.
Gates deflected questions about whether Musharraf was under pressure from the Western allies to succeed, saying that he had thanked him “for Pakistan’s help in the war on terror.” He added: “Pakistan is clearly a very strong ally of the United States.”
Asked whether he had received assurances from Musharraf, Gates said: “What we really focused on was not getting assurances and making demands but rather on how we can work together better to be more effective in efforts on the border to stop the Taleban and stop Al-Qaeda.”
He parried another question regarding allegations by Helmand Governor Asadullah Wafa that more than 700 Taleban fighters crossed into Afghanistan from Pakistan to reinforce guerrillas attacking a key dam and said he did discussed Taleban’s growing activities and reviewed joint strategy.
The defense secretary said the United States would also play a role in “improving understanding” between the Pakistani and Afghan governments, who are at loggerheads over who is responsible for the Taleban menace.
Gates said the United States was grateful to Musharraf for cracking down on extremism in his own country, which has been rocked by a recent wave of attacks blamed on pro-Taleban militants.
US military officials have complained that Pakistani border forces were turning a blind eye to the cross-border rebel movements and also criticized a peace deal between Islamabad and militants in the North Waziristan tribal area.
But Musharraf recently said security along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border was the joint responsibility of all the forces nearby, and Pakistan could not win the fight against militancy on its own.
