Petraeus hopeful US, Pakistan can move beyond recent tensions

WASHINGTON;  General David Petraeus, commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan sounded confident at a Congressional hearing that the United States and Pakistan can move beyond recent tensions over Raymond Davis issue and take forward their bilateral cooperative relationship.

"The US relationship with them, which has, I think it's fair to say, sustained a degree of tension in recent weeks, in particular as a result of the case involving the State Department employee. But hopefully we can move forward, take the rear view mirror off the bus and resume the very cooperative activities that have characterized the relationship in the past," he said.

At the same time, Petraeus told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee that the Pakistani, Afghan and ISAF cooperation along the Afghan border where Taliban militants operate has never been better than the current levels.

Pakistan, he noted, has "endured innumerable challenges in recent years: terrible natural disasters, a spread of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistani that forced the initiation some two years of very tough fighting, very impressive counterinsurgency operations, in which the Pakistanis have lost thousands of soldiers and also thousands of civilians."

"The fact is that the cooperation between Pakistan, the Afghan forces and ISAF forces has never been better. We have had a number of meetings literally just in the last couple of months to coordinate operations where Pakistan is continuing its offensive against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. "

The forces in Afghanistan will conduct complementary operations on the Afghan side of the border, he said.