Washington: The US Joint Chief of Staff Committee Admiral Mike Mullen on Thursday accused Pakistan of “exporting” violent extremism to Afghanistan by allowing militants to act as an “arm” of Islamabad’s ’s main intelligence agency – ISI.
“The Haqqani Network … acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Agency,” Mullen told a US Senate panel.
“With ISI support, Haqqani operatives planned and conducted (a September 11) truck bomb attack, as well as the assault on our embassy. We also have credible intelligence that they were behind the June 28 attack against the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul and a host of other smaller but effective operations.”
“In choosing to use violent extremism as an instrument of policy, the government of Pakistan —and most especially the Pakistani Army and ISI (intelligence service) — jeopardizes not only the prospect of our strategic partnership, but also Pakistan’s opportunity to be a respected nation with legitimate regional influence,” said the admiral.
“By exporting violence, they have eroded their internal security and their position in the region. They have undermined their international credibility and threatened their economic well-being,” Mullen said.
Mullen said the embassy attack and Tuesday’s bombing that killed the former Afghan president, who personified hopes for brokering peace negotiations with the Taliban, were examples of the Taliban’s shift toward high-profile violence.
“These acts of violence are as much about headlines and playing on the fears of a traumatized people, as they are about inflicting casualties —maybe even more so,” Mullen told the Senate panel.
“We must not misconstrue them. They are serious and significant in shaping perceptions but they do not represent a sea change in the odds of military success.”
His comments follow a series of warnings from top US officials on Pakistan’s approach to militants, suggesting possible unilateral US action in its soil anywhere.
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