General James Mattis, Commander of US Central Command, departed from Pakistan on Thursday after a series of meetings with senior Pakistani leaders. According to detail, General James and General John Allen, Commander of Nato's International Security Assistance Force discussed with Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and other senior military officials a wide-range of common security issues, including militant network activities and improving cross-border co-operation.
In meeting, General Mattis acknowledged the sacrifices made by Pakistani military in their fight against violent extremists, and offered his condolences for Pakistani military personnel who have fallen in support of that cause. General Mattis and General Allen were grateful for the time afforded them by their Pakistani counterparts and reaffirmed the importance of US-Pakistani security relationship not only to ongoing operations in Afghanistan, but also to regional stability.
Some reports say that Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin E Dempsey in Washington claimed that he had spoken with General Kayani at least five times since the Salala incident in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed, but it was the first highest level military meeting between the two countries since a November 26 cross-border Nato air raid.
Dempsey said the US wanted to reset military-to-military relationship with Pakistan including working the border issues and reopening the ground supply lines through Pakistan to Afghanistan. Dempsey said they wanted to rebuild the trust and confidence between the two allied countries in war against terrorism. He said the two militaries discussed what must be done in federally administered tribal areas (Fata) to improve the situation in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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