Army ready to counter all threats: Kayani

[Naveed Yaseen]

* COAS stresses ‘unity of national efforts’ to tackle internal and external challenges

By Sajjad Malik

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Army is fully prepared to meet all challenges faced by the country, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Kayani said during a meeting of top military leaders on Monday.

“The army is and will remain fully prepared to meet the current and emerging internal and external threats, with the full support of the nation,” he said while addressing the 63rd Formation Commanders Conference at the army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi.

General Kayani, who chaired the conference, also said it was important to improve coordination between various efforts to address the challenges being faced by the country.

“The chief of army staff highlighted the critical importance of the unity of national efforts to overcome these challenges,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

The army chief talked about a range of professional issues at the conference. He “dwelt at length about the full spectrum of issues relating to the army’s operational and training matters”, according to the ISPR.

General Kayani also spoke about the training of troops and asked the military officers to focus their efforts on the improvement of training standards. “He exhorted all commanders to devote all their efforts for the training of their men, as the year 2009 has been declared the ‘Year of Training’,” the ISPR said in the statement released hours after the meeting.

The participants were given “comprehensive briefings on the security environment and operational and training matters”, the ISPR statement added. The briefings were followed by “an open and purposeful” discussion, it said, without elaborating.

Corps commanders, principal staff officers and formation commanders attended the conference.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2009_pg1_2