India has emerged as a strategic partner for US: Mullen

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jun 10 (PTI) India has emerged as an
important strategic partner for the US and the Obama
Administration seeks to "mature" this partnership to address
common security challenges, a top American military official
said Wednesday.

"India has emerged as an increasingly important
strategic partner," Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff
Admiral Mike Mullen said in his testimony before the Senate
Appropriations Subcommittee on Defence.

"We seek to mature this partnership and address common
security challenges globally as well as within the region,"
he said, echoing Obama Administration, which has been strongly
arguing the case for deepening its strategic ties with India.

In his testimony, Mullen said Afghanistan and Pakistan
are the central fronts in the fight against al-Qaeda and
militant global extremism. But different strategy is being
adopted for the two countries, he said.

"Our aim in Afghanistan is to check the momentum of
the insurgency, train additional forces, and ensure security
for the Afghan national elections in August, while in Pakistan
we will work with the Pakistani military to further develop
their counterinsurgency skills and build stronger
relationships with Pakistani leaders at all levels," he said.

Stressing that Pakistan is crucial to US success in
Afghanistan, Mullen said in his nine trips to that country he
has developed a deeper understanding of how important it is
that the United States make and demonstrate a long term
commitment to sustaining this partnership.

"We are taking multiple approaches to rebuild and
strengthen relationships and address threats common to both of
our nations," he said, adding one key approach in the near
term is to help Pakistan's military to improve its overall and
specifically its counterinsurgency - capabilities.

"Beyond the trainers we will continue to provide, the
Pakistani Counterinsurgency Capability Fund and Coalition
Support Funds provide us the means to address this issue
directly, and I ask the Congress to support these initiatives
and provide the flexibility to accelerate their
implementation," he said.

"We are committed to comprehensive accountability
measures to ensure that these funds go exactly where they are
intended to go and do not compromise other USG humanitarian
assistance objectives.

"These programs will help the Pakistanis take
continued action to combat extremist threats in western
Pakistani territories which will complement the reinforcement
of troops and special operations efforts in Afghanistan to
maintain pressure on al-Qaeda and Taliban leadership,"he said.

"In addition to these initiatives, steady support of
the Foreign Military Sales and Foreign Military Financing
programs will help us to address the needs expressed by
Pakistan's leaders and validated by our civil-military
leadership," Mullen said.

"We will also be well served by the substantially
larger request for International Military Education and
Training exchanges with Pakistan, to help reconnect our
institutions and forge lasting relationships. Military
programs must also be supplemented by non-military investment
and continued engagement, which further confirm our Nation's
long term commitment," he said. PTI