"It is difficult, difficult to say," said Admiral Mullen when asked to describe Washington’s relations with Pakistain, which was once a close US ally in the war against terror and during the cold war.
"I think we have clearly distanced ourselves from Pakistain over the last decade and Pakistain has more and more fallen under the umbrella of China," he told VOA Urdu Service in Washington this week.
| He recalled that as the US army chief he had told a congressional hearing that Pak intelligence agencies were active in Afghanistan "and I still believe ... that connectivity is there. It sort of cuts both ways." |
He noted that China was not only Pakistain’s neighbour but it "has been supportive of Pakistain" as well.
This closeness, he said, "suits China’s global ambition" because Beijing would prefer to have a neighbor "closer to them and not close to the US".
For these reasons, the US-Pakistain relationship "is going to... be tense for quite some time," he added.
Asked if he believed Pakistain helped the Taliban
...Arabic for
students...
take over Kabul in August last year, Admiral Mullen said: "They did not do much to stop it for sure."
He recalled that as the US army chief he had told a congressional hearing that Pak intelligence agencies were active in Afghanistan "and I still believe ... that connectivity is there. It sort of cuts both ways."
The former US military chief reiterated a complaint that’s often heard in Washington that Pakistain "played on both sides (the US and the Taliban)" in Afghanistan.
On Thursday afternoon, the White House and the US State Department publicly addressed Prime Minister Imran Khan
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’s claim that foreign powers were supporting the attempt to unseat him.
During a regular press briefing, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, however, rejected this claim as incorrect.
"Absolutely no truth to that allegation," she said, responding to a question.
At the State Department, spokesperson Ned Price also responded to a question about the alleged US involvement in Pakistain’s domestic politics.
"We are closely following developments in Pakistain, we respect and support Pakistain’s constitutional process and rule of law," Mr Price said. "However,
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when it comes to that allegation, there is no truth to it."