India still seen as a greatest threat by Pakistan: Petraeus

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Oct 7 (PTI) Despite the fact that their
military is fighting tough battle against Taliban and al-Qaeda
terrorists, the Pakistan leaders and the ISI still believes
India is the greatest threat to them, a top US military
official said Wednesday.

"It is important to note that India is still seen as the
greatest threat, greater than the Taliban, greater than even
al-Qaeda. So there are still some dynamics there that are
challenging," US Central Command Commander Gen David Petraeus
said at the Association of the US Army annual meeting.

Commending Pakistani military in taking successful action
against the terrorists in the Swat Valley, Petraeus said they
have cleared the vast majority of the Swat Valley. The US
General said the operations have resulted in the death and
capture of significant number of senior Taliban leaders.

"They have carried out a number of operations in some of
the tribal areas here -- this is the Federally Administered
Tribal Area all along right here -- Baijur, Momah (sic) and
Khyber," he said, adding that they have largely encircled a
key area of South Waziristan, a stronghold of Taliban.

Also in this area, he said a number of other extremist
groups, many of which are of significant concern in eastern
Afghanistan like the Haqqani Network, Commander Nasir,
Hekmatyar's Hizbe-Islami and a couple of other acronym
elements that compromise what can be described as syndicate of
extremists. (MORE) PTI