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

[LahoreEstate]

Pakistan has performed beyond expectations: Gates




Monday, September 07, 2009
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: Highlighting Pakistan’s recent anti-militant success as well as the country’s intrinsic and strategic significance, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said the United States will build a long-term relationship with Pakistan independent of Afghanistan.

“I believe that the Pakistani government, both the civilian side and the military side, have 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 told the Al-Jazeera TV channel.

Gates cited the unprecedented political consensus Islamabad had reached this summer in the fight against Taliban and the effectiveness of the operations the Pakistani forces had launched in Swat and other areas in the 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 on Sunday. “No one, I think, would have predicted the political consensus that has emerged in Pakistan in terms of the effort to take on these violent extremists in the North-West Frontier Province, in Fata and in that area.”

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