Pakistan 'epicenter' of terrorism, says Mullen

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Jan 13 (PTI) Terming Pakistan as the
"epicenter" for global terrorism, the US military's topmost
official has said extremism cannot be defeated without
eliminating the safe havens in the country.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again: It is
the epicenter of terrorism in the world right now, and it
deserves the attention of everybody to do as much as we can to
eliminate that threat," Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the
US Joint Chiefs of Staff told Washington-based foreign
journalists at a news briefing.
Mullen said progress in Pakistan was critical in terms
of the region.
"Since I've had this job, I have never talked or
wanted to leave the impression that it was about one country
or another, because it's about the region. And I think
progress there is critical as well.
"Obviously the recent assassination, the political
challenges that we've seen with MQM leaving and returning to
the coalition -- to ensure that that government doesn't fall,
I think that political aspect there is something that I keep
an eye on all the time," he said.
Mullen emphasised it was important for Pakistan
to shut down all those safe heavens in its boundary.
"It is absolutely critical that the safe havens in
Pakistan get shut down. We cannot succeed in Afghanistan
without that," he said.
"I've had many meetings with (Pak Army) General
(Ashfaq Parvez) Kayani on this subject, and he has evolved his
military against this threat, and this threat is evolving as
well, because it's not just Haqqani anymore, al-Qaeda or TTP,
the Afghan Taliban or LeT."
It was all of them working together in ways that two
years ago they absolutely did not, Mullen said in response to
a question.
"....And when I talk about the region, it isn't just
Afghanistan and Pakistan. We had a question earlier about
Iran. I will talk about this with my Russian counterpart --
you know, the neighbours in the area, to include India.
"I think we all have responsibility and we all want to
see this resolved as rapidly as possible," the official added.
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