MULLEN-LET 2 LST

"My belief is also that we cannot take the chance to get
this wrong. The people who are living in Afghanistan from al-
Qaeda -- same group that killed 3,000 Americans (during 9/11
attacks) -- they're still planning, they're still training
they're still financing those kinds of potential attacks in
the future," Mullen said.
"Now, they're diminished from where they were a few years
ago, but by no means have they gone away. So that's at the
core of this entire strategy. We can't do it alone. We've got
42 other countries in Afghanistan who are supportive of this,
and we need to do it with Pakistan as well," Mullen said.
He said India has a role to play in bringing stability in
the region.
"In March, the strategy was a regional strategy. It was
Afghanistan and Pakistan. And, in fact, the region's bigger
than that, because I think India has a lot to do with
stability in this part of the world -- as do other bordering
states, bordering countries, if you will, to Afghanistan and
Pakistan," he argued.
The ability to stabilise the region rests on the
shoulders of a lot of players, certainly not just the US,
Mullen said.
"It is that stable Afghanistan that I think gives an
opportunity for Pakistan to change its behaviour, because its
behaviour is focussed on what kind of Afghanistan is this
going to be? Is it going to be a Taliban-led Afghanistan? Is
it going to be a stable Afghanistan that I can depend on? And
those answer aren't there yet, and I don't think they will be
for a couple more years," he said. PTI