‘Grave mistakes’ in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD – US DEFENCE Secretary Robert Gates on Friday expressed regret for past US policies that cut military ties with Pakistan, saying the move was ‘a grave strategic mistake’ that had damaged relations.

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Speaking at the National Defence University in Islamabad, he said a US ban on military contacts in the 1990s over Pakistan’s nuclear programme undermined a bond between their armed forces and created a lingering ‘trust deficit’.

He vowed the United States was ‘prepared to invest whatever time and energy it takes to forge and sustain a genuine, lasting partnership’ with Pakistan. But rebuilding relationships with a generation of Pakistani officers who have had little contact with the US military will take years, Mr Gates said.

‘I was in government in the early 1990s, when Russia left the region and the United States largely abandoned Afghanistan and cut off defence ties with Pakistan – a grave strategic mistake driven by some well-intentioned but short-sighted US legislative and policy decisions,’ said Mr Gates.

Many Pakistanis feel bitterness over what they saw as US abandonment of the region once the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989.

Mr Gates, a former CIA director who served under several presidents, said the move ‘tainted the perception of the United States in Pakistan,’ creating fertile ground for ‘propaganda’ from extremist militants. The US has no plans for military bases and ‘we have no desire to control Pakistan’s nuclear weapons,’ Mr Gates added. — AFP

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