US military worried about Taliban move on Pakistan

[April 24, 2009]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said in an interview broadcast Friday that he's "extremely concerned" about indications the Taliban was moving closer to Pakistan's capital of Islamabad.

"We're certainly moving closer to the tipping point" where Pakistan could be overtaken by Islamic extremists, Adm. Mike Mullen said in the interview, even as reports from Pakistan suggested a pullback was under way.

Speaking from Afghanistan, Mullen said he feels "events continue to move in the wrong direction" in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. And Mullen also said he hopes that the arrival soon of an additional 17,000 American combat troops will stabilize things.

"We're going as fast as we can go right now and we want to get it right," he said. But Mullen also said the Afghan people "have to take over security for their nation. That's the only way we're going to be successful."

Meanwhile, a local official in Pakistan said Friday that Taliban militants had begun withdrawing from a recently seized district in the northwestern part of the country after the government warned it would remove them by force. The pullback, if carried through, would eliminate the most immediate threat to a peace agreement in the militant-held Swat Valley that the U.S. government worries has created a haven for allies of al-Qaida.

Mullen said he shares the sentiments of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who told a House committee earlier this week she believes the Pakistani government is "basically abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists."

"Changing paradigms and mindsets is not easy," Clinton said at the time, "but I do believe there is an increasing awareness of not just the Pakistani government but the Pakistani people that this insurgency coming closer and closer to major cities does pose such a threat."

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on Thursday noted Clinton's remarks and said, alluding to Pakistan, "I think the news over the past several days is very disturbing. The administration is extremely concerned."

Clinton said Thursday that the administration's special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, has had "painful, specific" conversations with a wide range of Pakistanis about the need to act more effectively against the insurgents.

"There is a significant opportunity here for us working in collaboration with the Pakistani government to help them get the support they need to make that mind-set change and act more vigorously against this threat," she said, adding, "There are no promises. They have to do it."

He was interviewed on NBC's "Today" show.

[Associated Press]

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