Pak-US relations independent of Washington’s Afghan policy: Gates

[LahoreEstate]

* Islamabad performed better than expectations in anti-terror campaign

ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: Highlighting Pakistan’s recent success in the anti-terror campaign as well as the country’s intrinsic and strategic significance, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Washington would build a long-term relationship with Islamabad which would be independent of the US Afghan policy.

“It (Pakistan) is important intrinsically to the US. We have been Pakistan’s friend and an ally for a long time. We’ve had a very close relationship and we look forward to building that relationship, going forward completely independent of Afghanistan,” he told Al-Jazeera TV on Sunday.

“I believe the Pakistani government, both the civilian side and the military side, had performed better than almost anyone’s expectations in the region, or in this country, or elsewhere, and we are very impressed by that and we are prepared to be helpful, to help the Pakistanis in any way we can,” he said.

Gates cited the unprecedented political consensus Islamabad had achieved in the fight against the Taliban and effectiveness of the operations the Pakistani forces had launched in Swat in recent months.

“I think if you look back, 15 or 16 months, the Pakistani government has performed admirably,” he noted, according to a transcript released by the TV channel.

“No one would have predicted the political consensus that had emerged in Pakistan in terms of the effort to take on these extremists in the NWFP and FATA.”

He also hailed Islamabad’s response to the humanitarian crisis it faced in the form of massive internal displacement from the conflict zone.

Pakistan, he said to a question, was a “very important” country.

“I think one of the new aspects of the (US) president’s strategy with respect to Afghanistan is the recognition that the problem we face there, we and the Afghans, is a regional problem. And as we’ve seen in recent months, it is a problem that the Pakistani government faces and so I think Pakistan clearly is important.”

“Pakistan is important in its own right to the US, as a friend and an ally,” Gates said. app

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2009_pg1_8