The Commander of US Naval Forces Central Command has acknowledged the contribution of Pakistan Navy for ensuring maritime peace in the region and said the United States cannot succeed without support of Pakistan Navy.
"We cannot be successful in this region, without the contribution of the Pakistan Navy," Vice Admiral John W Miller, Commander, US Naval Forces Central Command, US 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) told a group of Pakistani media persons during a visit to its Headquarters here in the Bahrain's capital.
Vice Admiral Miller, who has spent a majority of his operational career in the US Central Command area of responsibility, said the ties between the naval forces of Pakistan and the United States were better than ever before. "We are quite fortunate to have Pakistan as part of our team, and they are not only just great team mates, but they are also good friends," he said.
The headquarters of the US Naval Central Command and US Navy Fifth Fleet are co-located at the Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain and ensure maritime security in an area spread over 2.5 million square miles of ocean.
Commodore Asif Hameed Siddiqui SI(M) from the Pakistan Navy is now commanding the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) on counter-piracy operations. Miller said that he has been at the US Navy's Central Command Headquarters for three years and most of the time, one of the two task forces has been under the command of a Pakistani Naval Officer. He said that it was a significant achievement and something for Pakistan to be proud of.
"No nation has contributed more to command our task forces than Pakistan so we are really proud of the relationship that we have with the Pakistani Navy," he said.
Vice Admiral Miller, also the Commander of the Combined Maritime Force (CMF) said it was "a very unique organisation" comprising 30 countries working together voluntarily. He said on any given day, there were around 40 to 45 US ships in the region, and combined with the CMF members and others the total rises to around 70 ships, working in co-ordination to ensure maritime security in the region. He said that the region was witnessing unstable time, however on the contrary, the maritime environment was calm; oil was flowing out, while goods and services were entering the region, without any incident, as many countries in the Gulf get 80 per cent of food and other goods through the sea.