Four-star General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is expected to succeed chairman Admiral Mike Mullen as the top military man in Pentagon next year, has admitted that the terrorist safe havens that exist in Pakistan are a major strategic vulnerability in achieving success in Afghanistan against the Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Cartwright, briefing the media at the Pentagon on the Af-Pak annual review unveiled by President Barack Obama, acknowledged, "I see this sanctuary issue and then the extremist groups that are associated with it -- particularly those that come back across the border into Afghanistan -- as one of the strategic vulnerabilities."
Cartwright, who had earlier appeared with Obama, Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the White House briefing room, said, "Now, there are any number of ways that we can address it -- from unilateral US activities to unilateral Pakistani activities inside Pakistan to partnering between the two of us, which is really what we seek."
Mullen, who made an unannounced visit to Pakistan en route from Iraq last week to meet with Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, just hours before the White House released its Af-Pak review, had expressed 'impatience' with Islamabad over its continuing failure to dismantle the terrorist havens within its borders.
He told reporters traveling with him on his special military aircraft that "these sanctuaries are a priority in military-to-military relationship between the US and Pakistan and our discussions."
"We have a sense of urgency about this operation as our forces are losing people on the other side," he said, and argued that Pakistani military action in North Waziristan is imperative because "that's where the Al Qaeda leadership resides -- that's where the Haqqani network is headquartered."
Cartwright said that the mobilisation of nearly 140,000 troops by Pakistan clearly indicated that "the Pakistanis have realised the threat inside their country."
While acknowledging that "this threat may not necessarily be the same threat that is focused on Afghanistan on all cases," nonetheless the US was gratified that "we