PAKISTAN:ADMIRAL MIKE Mullen, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, made a surprise visit to Pakistan at the weekend, fuelling speculation the US may step up attacks on Islamic militants in the tribal areas along the Afghan border.
Admiral Mullen met senior Pakistani military leaders including Gen Ashfaq Kiyani, the chief of army staff, according to US and Pakistani officials.
A Pakistani government official yesterday said Admiral Mullen's visit was "related to the growing tensions" along the border.
"I suspect he brought a firm message for the Pakistani government," the official said.
Pakistani newspapers yesterday speculated that Admiral Mullen's visit was related to the increasingly brazen incursions by Islamic militants. "Sources quoted Admiral Mullen as complaining that militants were moving across the border with greater liberty now," Pakistan's Dawn newspaper said yesterday.
The report said the US was "deeply frustrated" with "Pakistan's lack of ability or willingness, or both, to move decisively to end the rising infiltration by the Taliban militants into Afghanistan".
Western diplomats in Islamabad said the US faced a difficult dilemma in the border region, where it has used CIA pilotless drones armed with Hellfire missiles to attack militant targets.
"If the US decides to further escalate its military strikes, it then endangers a carefully built up relationship with Pakistan, which has been an important ally in the war on terror," one diplomat said.
"The challenge is to somehow bring the area under control without causing irreparable damage to the relationship [with Pakistan]." Another Western diplomat warned that the future of the new government, which came to power in February, "would be seriously jeopardised" if there were public protests over stepped up US attacks. - ( Financial Times service)