(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - March 30, 2009: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Pakistan's powerful intelligence service to cut contacts with extremists in Afghanistan, which he called an ‘existential threat’ to Pakistan itself, AFP reports. 
Defense Secretary Robert Gates speaks to reporters during a news briefing at the Pentagon.
Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence has had links with extremists ‘for a long time, as a hedge against what might happen in Afghanistan if we were to walk away or whatever,’ he said on ‘Fox News Sunday.’
‘What we need to do is try and help the Pakistanis understand these groups are now an existential threat to them and we will be there as a steadfast ally for Pakistan,’ Gates said.
‘They can count on us and they don't need that hedge,’ he said, citing the ISI's links specifically to the Al Qaeda-linked Haqqani militant network and to the forces of Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
The Pentagon chief's comments came after President Barack Obama Friday put Pakistan at the center of the fight against al Qaeda with a new strategy to commit thousands more troops and billions of dollars to the Afghan war.
‘He clearly understands this is a very tough fight and that we're in it until we're successful, that al Qaeda is no longer a threat to the United States and that we are in no danger of either Afghanistan or the western part of Pakistan being a base for Al Qaeda,’ Gates said.
On troop levels in Afghanistan
Asked about a New York Times report that US military commanders had pressed Obama for even more troops, the defense secretary said: ‘The president has approved every single soldier that I have requested of him.’
‘Now, the reality is I've been at this a long time and I don't think I've ever in several decades run into a ground commander who thought he had enough troops. That's probably true in all of history.
‘But we have fulfilled all of the requirements that the general has put down for 2009, and my view is there's no need to ask for more troops,’ he said, referring to US commander General David McKiernan.
‘And the reality is there already are a lot of troops there. This will bring us, when all is said and done, to 68,000 troops plus another 35,000 or so Europeans and other partners.’
But the new strategy will be reviewed at the end of the year, Gates also stressed, and said the United States has not given up on extracting more troops from European nations as Obama heads to a NATO summit in France and Germany.
‘In fact, I think some of our allies will send additional forces there to provide security before the August elections in Afghanistan,’ Gates said, adding that Washington also expected more civilian experts and police trainers.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates speaks to reporters during a news briefing at the Pentagon.
Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence has had links with extremists ‘for a long time, as a hedge against what might happen in Afghanistan if we were to walk away or whatever,’ he said on ‘Fox News Sunday.’
‘What we need to do is try and help the Pakistanis understand these groups are now an existential threat to them and we will be there as a steadfast ally for Pakistan,’ Gates said.
‘They can count on us and they don't need that hedge,’ he said, citing the ISI's links specifically to the Al Qaeda-linked Haqqani militant network and to the forces of Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
The Pentagon chief's comments came after President Barack Obama Friday put Pakistan at the center of the fight against al Qaeda with a new strategy to commit thousands more troops and billions of dollars to the Afghan war.
‘He clearly understands this is a very tough fight and that we're in it until we're successful, that al Qaeda is no longer a threat to the United States and that we are in no danger of either Afghanistan or the western part of Pakistan being a base for Al Qaeda,’ Gates said.
On troop levels in Afghanistan
Asked about a New York Times report that US military commanders had pressed Obama for even more troops, the defense secretary said: ‘The president has approved every single soldier that I have requested of him.’
‘Now, the reality is I've been at this a long time and I don't think I've ever in several decades run into a ground commander who thought he had enough troops. That's probably true in all of history.
‘But we have fulfilled all of the requirements that the general has put down for 2009, and my view is there's no need to ask for more troops,’ he said, referring to US commander General David McKiernan.
‘And the reality is there already are a lot of troops there. This will bring us, when all is said and done, to 68,000 troops plus another 35,000 or so Europeans and other partners.’
But the new strategy will be reviewed at the end of the year, Gates also stressed, and said the United States has not given up on extracting more troops from European nations as Obama heads to a NATO summit in France and Germany.
‘In fact, I think some of our allies will send additional forces there to provide security before the August elections in Afghanistan,’ Gates said, adding that Washington also expected more civilian experts and police trainers.
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