White House treads carefully on Pakistan

WASHINGTON: The White House Wednesday declined to reinforce the top US military officer's warning that the Haqqani network was a "veritable arm" of the ISI.

But a senior official again candidly said Washington was concerned about links between the network, blamed for attacks on US troops in Afghanistan, and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), amid a fierce row with Islamabad.

"It is not language I would use," said White House spokesman Jay Carney, when questioned whether the president shared the views Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed last week.

"It's a matter a matter of semantics," said Carney, seeking to ease the row over the comments by noting Pakistan's close cooperation in the past in the US struggle against Al-Qaeda.

"The administration's view... is that the continuing safe havens that the Haqqani network enjoys in Pakistan and the links between the Pakistani military and the Haqqani network are troubling, and we want action taken against them."

"What we have said and what is our policy, is that there are links. I think that is irrefutable," said Carney, but declined to say whether the views expressed by Mullen were approved by the White House in advance.

Earlier, amid signs that key members of the administration were troubled by the frank nature of Mullen's remarks, the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta shared the broad implication of the top officer's views.

"The secretary and the chairman both agree that there are unacceptable links between elements of the Pakistani government and the Haqqanis," press secretary George Little told reporters.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday some defense and other officials disagreed with Mullen's remarks and that the admiral had overstated the role of the ISI.

Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani Friday criticized Mullen's remarks saying they were "very unfortunate and not based on facts."

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011