ISI ‘exporting’ violence: US

The US military’s top officer bluntly accused Pakistan on Thursday of “exporting” violent extremism to Afghanistan by backing militants that attack American and NATO troops.

In a scathing and unprecedented public condemnation of Pakistan, Admiral Mike Mullen said the country’s main intelligence agency ISI was actively supporting Haqqani network militants blamed for an assault on the US embassy in Kabul last week.

“The Haqqani network, for one, acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency,” Mullen told the US Senate Armed Services Committee.

Haqqani militants this month carried out a truck bombing on a NATO base in Afghanistan that wounded 77 Americans; assaulted the US embassy and NATO headquarters in the Afghan capital; and in June staged an attack on the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul.

“In choosing to use violent extremism as an instrument of policy, the government of Pakistan - and most especially the Pakistani Army and ISI - jeopardises not only the prospect of our strategic partnership, but also Pakistan’s opportunity to be a respected nation with legitimate regional influence,” he said.

“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.”

His tough language follows a series of stern warnings from top US officials on Pakistan’s failure to crack down on the Haqqani network, raising the possibility of unilateral US action.

The Central Intelligence Agency already carries out drone bombing raids on al Qaeda and other militants in the Tribal Areas, strikes which US officials do not explicitly acknowledge.

Washington’s relations have deteriorated with Pakistan, which was angered and embarrassed by a US raid on May 2 that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.

US leaders did not notify their Islamabad counterparts in advance of the nighttime operation by US Navy SEAL commandos deep inside Pakistan, fearing that officials might tip off bin Laden’s circle.

Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, appearing at the same Senate hearing, decried ‘Pakistani support’ for the Haqqani network, saying the Pakistani authorities have been told in unequivocal terms that the US will not tolerate a continuation of the group’s cross-border attacks.

But when asked by Senator Carl Levin to elaborate, Panetta declined to say what steps the government might take.

Mullen, who is due to step down at the end of the month as chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff after four years, defended his efforts to build a dialogue with the Pakistani military.

He said more than a dozen meetings with army chief General Ashfaq Kayani were crucial despite Islamabad’s refusal to meet Washington’s demands.

“Some may argue I have wasted my time, that Pakistan is no closer to us than before - and may now have drifted even further away. I disagree,” he said.

“Indeed, I think we would be in a far tougher situation today, in the wake of the frostiness which fell over us after the bin Laden raid, were it not for the groundwork General Kayani and I had laid - were it not for the fact that we could at least have a conversation about the way ahead, however difficult that conversation might be.”

While Pakistan has maintained ties to some militants as a hedge to counter its arch-foe India, the gamble has proved a failure, Mullen said.

“They may believe that by using these proxies they are hedging their bets, or redressing what they feel is an imbalance of regional power. But in reality, they have already lost that bet,” he said.