US military chief to accompany top diplomat, to talk terror

ISLAMABAD: The US military chief will accompany secretary of state Mike Pompeo on a visit to Pakistan next week and the need to fight terror will be “the primary part” of their discussions with Pakistani leaders, defence secretary Jim Mattis has said.

Pompeo will visit Pakistan on September 5, a day before he and Mattis participate in the inaugural “2+2” dialogue with their Indian counterparts in New Delhi. Pompeo and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Gen Joseph Dunford, are set to meet Prime Minister Imran Khan and other officials.

“The secretary of state and the chairman are going to fly in to Islamabad to meet with the new government that’s in place there now,” Mattis said on Tuesday.

During their meetings with their Pakistani counterparts, the US officials will “make very clear what we have to do, all of our nations, in meeting our common foe, the terrorists”, Mattis said.

The US officials will “make that a primary part of the discussion”, he added.

Dunford told the briefing that the US had “permanent interests in South Asia” and wanted to “maintain a presence to have influence in that region”. The US, he said, will maintain a diplomatic and security presence in South Asia and the form of that presence will change over time.

Mattis’ emphasis on fighting terrorists reignited the controversy stirred last week after Pompeo’s telephone call to Khan, the Dawn newspaper reported. The US state department issued a statement after the call that said Pompeo “raised the importance of Pakistan taking decisive action against all terrorists operating in Pakistan”.

Islamabad dismissed the US statement as incorrect, saying terrorism was not discussed. Mattis avoided referring to this controversy at the briefing and did not comment when a journalist asked if he trusted the new Pakistani leadership’s commitment to fight terrorism.

Mattis said Pompeo and he were going to New Delhi for talks aimed at strengthening the growing partnership with India. “We see the strengthening of India’s democracy, its military, its economy as a stabilising element in the world,” he said.