Rift widens with new US allegations, blunt threat

Gloves are off as US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta threatened to take “operational steps” against Pakistan while the American military chief Admiral Mike Mullen accused the ISI of having used its “veritable arm” for attacking the US Embassy in Kabul.


Weeks of incessant pressure on Pakistan to undo the Haqqani network, which also brought the ISI chief to Washington on Tuesday, led to the final showdown on Thursday at a Senate hearing where Admiral Mullen also blamed Islamabad for jeopardising a strategic partnership with the United States.When Senator Levin asked Secretary Panetta to underline the options the US had for dealing with Pakistan, the US defence chief said “I think the first order of business right now is to frankly put as much pressure on Pakistan as we can to deal with this issue from their side.”


Referring to Admiral Mullen’s meeting with General Kayani in Spain last week and Director CIA David Piraeus’s meeting with Gen. Shuja Pasha in Washington on Tuesday, Secretary Panetta said: “There has been a very clear message to them and to others that they must take steps to prevent this safe haven that the Haqqanis are using. We simply cannot allow these kinds of terrorists to be able to go into Afghanistan, attack our forces and then return to Pakistan for safe haven and not face any kind of pressure from the Pakistanis, for that that to stop.