Pak leadership aware of threat

WASHINGTON - Pakistan has not diverted any US assistance to advance its nuclear weapons programme as claimed in a leading American newspaper report, the top US military officer said Monday.
Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff also acknowledged that Pakistan has bolstered the security of its nuclear assets, saying it made use of American aid specifically targeted toward that end in the recent years.
I am not aware of any US aid that has gone towards nuclear weapons, save that which is very focused in the last several years, last three or four years on improving their security, which is exactly what we would like. And they have done that, he said in response to a question.
Mullens comments came after a story in The New York Times claimed that members of US Congress are concerned that Islamabad might divert US aid to it nuclear programme.
Mullen, who spoke on wide-ranging security issues at a leading Washington think tank, also rejected characterisations that the key anti-terrorism partner somehow might near a failure. He said both civilian and military leadership in Pakistan is conscious of the extremism threat to their country and advocated a long-term US relationship with Pakistan.
APP ADDS: As New Delhi headed toward a new Congress-led coalition government following general elections, the United States Monday expressed the hope that Indian and Pakistani political leadership would work to reduce tensions on their border to focus on addressing common threat from violent extremism.
India is not just positioned in the theatre but Indias security is also tied to improved stability in the region, particularly with Pakistan and Afghanistan. And I recognise that there is still great focus on the border between Pakistan and India, Admiral Mike Mullen, the top US military officer, told a gathering of experts at Washingtons Brookings Institution.
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs Staff, who spoke on The Future of Global Engagement, underscored in reply to a question that Afghanistan, Pakistan and India are very much linked in the regional security perspective.
I was struck when India and Pakistan a few years ago actually de-tensioned that border and that some commerce and tourism started to move across the border in a very positive way. That also then allowed some of the security measures to be in terms of numbers of forces and readiness levels to be reduced.
And I am hopeful that the political leadership in these countries will take steps to continue to reduce this, he added, when asked how India and Pakistan should work together to face the common extremism threat in the region in the backdrop of Congress-led coalitions success in the just-concluded general elections.
I think all three of these countries (Pakistan, Afghanistan and India), from a security standpoint, are very much linked. And, in fact, the focus on the Taliban that we have inside Pakistan, working both sides, both Afghanistan and India, has to be addressed by everybody out there politically and militarily.