US commanders urge Pakistan to counter Haqqani Network

WASHINGTON: Three top US commanders have weighed in on Pakistan’s position to use its influence and counter the notorious Haqqani Network, while supporting the Obama administration’s decision to continue assistance to Pakistan.

US Special Operations Command chief Gen Joseph Votel, the nominee to take charge of the US Central Command, told lawmakers that Pakistan had a way of communicating to the Haqqani Network, and a way of highlighting to them the disruptive role they are playing in Afghanistan. “So I think the first thing we need to do is leverage their influence with that particular organisation to prevent them from having those particular facts,” Votel said.

Gen Votel was testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee where he suggested that Pakistan needed to take action against the Haqqani Network if the leverage factor failed. “If that doesn’t work ... they need to look at conducting security operations to contain them and keep them from coming across the border and having an impact in Afghanistan,” he said.

Pakistan, on the other hand, has already declared that the Haqqani Network had been disrupted, its leaders were on the  run and most of them were operating out of Afghanistan.Gen Votel further said, “I think we’ve seen some instances where Pakistan has been aggressive in some of the things they have been doing along the border. They have been pretty aggressive, they have pushed a lot of fighters into Afghanistan. That's traded additional turbulence, but it’s also created opportunities for us that we have been able to capitalise on."

He commended Pakistan for taking military action against al Qaeda and TTP; and also supported Obama administration decision to continue US assistance to Pakistan. "The risks of ineffective and unclear signals and conditioning may rise us losing our access and frank dialogue to Pakistan," he said.

Gen Votel has been nominated by President Obama to replace Gen Lloyd Austin as commander of the US Central Command. He attended the congressional hearing for his confirmation.

The nominee for US Special Operations Command, Lt Gen Raymond Thomas, who will replace Gen Votel also testified that the US-Pakistan relationship was fundamental to America's vital national security interests. "If confirmed, I would in consultation with Centcom to continue to evaluate the specifics of the relationship based on my assessment of our shared interests with Pakistan and its effectiveness of achieving our shared goals.”

Meanwhile, Gen Lloyd Austin, Centcom head also pressed Pakistan to take decisive action against the Haqqani network. "The Pakistanis are uniquely positioned to counter the Haqqani network, which remains the greatest threat to our forces and to stability in Afghanistan long-term," Austin had said before the same Committee a day earlier.

Gen Austin is retiring soon.

The Pakistan military continues to play a visible role in efforts to reduce safe havens in the Fata area along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, while at the same time actively countering other terrorist groups, he said, adding that the US was encouraged by renewed Pak-Afghan relations. “Both countries’ military leaders are working to secure a bilateral border standard operating procedure,” Austin said. Noting that US-Pakistan military-to-military relationship remains stable, he said key contributing factors are the American security assistance and the Coalition Support Fund.