Gates: Pakistan A "Strong Ally"

Pentagon chief Robert Gates vowed Monday that the United States will not neglect Afghanistan and will work with the government of Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to combat the Taliban in the neighboring country.

After meeting with Musharraf for about an hour at one of his homes in Islamabad, Gates told reporters the two had discussed how Pakistan and the United States can work together on a spring offensive against the Taliban.

"Pakistan is clearly a very strong ally of the United States on this," he said.

The U.S. defense chief's meeting with Musharraf came a day after American military officials said they were firing artillery rounds from their positions in Afghanistan at Taliban fighters inside Pakistan.

The skirmishes are politically sensitive because Pakistan's government, regarded by the Bush administration as an important ally against Islamic extremists, has denied that it allows U.S. forces to strike inside its territory.

Addressing reporters at an airbase after his meeting with Musharraf, Gates refused to elaborate on the cross-border strikes against Taliban targets, saying only, "Our operations are coordinated with the Pakistanis.

Pakistan, a close U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism, has faced charges — from America and Afghanistan — that the Taliban militia stage attacks from Pakistan against Afghan government troops and NATO- and U.S.-led coalition troops.

"I think and hope that the United States can play a constructive role in improving, understanding and coordination between the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan. We all have a mutual interest in stabilizing the border and in Afghanistan becoming a stable and prosperous democracy," Gates said Monday.

Pakistan's border regions along Afghanistan long have been suspected to be the hiding places for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

The use of the largely ungoverned Waziristan area of Pakistan as a haven for Taliban and al Qaeda fighters has become a greater irritant between Washington and Islamabad since Pakistan put in place a peace agreement there in September that was intended to stop cross-border incursions.

Musharraf acknowledged recently that his outgunned Pakistani frontier guards have allowed insurgents to cross the border and said the army soon would fence parts of the border to stem the problem.

"The President himself has acknowledged that there were problems initially with the enforcement of the agreement, but that it is improving. But, what we really focused on was, not on getting assurances or making demands, but rather on how can we work together better to be more effective in the efforts on the border to stop the Taliban and to stop al Qaeda," Gates said after meeting Musharraf.

The Pentagon has plans to extend its recent buildup of several thousand combat troops in Afghanistan, initially announced as lasting until late spring, well into next year, a senior U.S. military official said last week.

That move would keep U.S. troop levels at between 26,000 and 27,000 until at least the spring of 2008.

Gates reiterated other U.S. officials' remarks that the United States neglected Afghanistan for 20 years, contributing to a rise of terrorism in the region and the strengthening of al Qaeda in Afghanistan where the terrorist group was harbored by the Taliban.

"We won't make that mistake again," Gates aid.

Before leaving Munich, where he attended a regional security conference, Gates responded Sunday to Russian President Vladimir Putin's assault on U.S. foreign policy by saying "one Cold War is enough" and that he would go to Moscow to try to reduce tensions. Gates also sought more allied help in Afghanistan.

He delivered his first speech as Pentagon chief at a security conference in Germany and then flew to Pakistan to discuss fears of a renewed spring offensive by Taliban fighters in neighboring Afghanistan.
Gates' rebuke of the Russian president relied on humor and some pointed jabs.

"As an old Cold Warrior, one of yesterday's speeches almost filled me with nostalgia for a less complex time. Almost," Gates said. Then, as the audience chuckled, the defense secretary said he has accepted Putin's invitation to visit Russia.

"We all face many common problems and challenges that must be addressed in partnership with other countries, including Russia," said Gates. "One Cold War was quite enough."

In his speech Saturday, Putin blamed U.S. foreign policy for inciting other countries to seek nuclear weapons to defend themselves from an "almost uncontained use of military force."

The Russian leader said "unilateral, illegitimate actions have not solved a single problem, they have become a hotbed of further conflicts" and that "one state, the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way."

Gates also made an urgent call for NATO allies to live up to their promises to supply military and economic aid for Afghanistan.

"It is vitally important that the success Afghanistan has achieved not be allowed to slip away through neglect or lack of political will or resolve," Gates said. Failure to muster a strong military effort combined with economic development and a counternarcotics plan "would be a mark of shame," he said.

Gates also said that prisoner abuse scandals in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other mistakes have damaged America's reputation. It will take work, he said, to prove that the U.S. still is a force for good in the world.

While he did not mention the war in Iraq, Gates told officials at the security conference that Washington must do a better job of explaining its policies and actions.

For the past century, he said, most people believed that "while we might from time to time do something stupid, that we were a force for good in the world."

Many continue to believe that, Gates said. But, he added, "I think we also have made some mistakes and have not presented our case as well as we might in many instances. I think we have to work on that."

The bulk of his speech was devoted to the future of the NATO alliance and the need to work together to defend against threats.

Gates also sketched out the challenges ahead, from Iran's nuclear ambitions and the situation in the Middle East to China's recent anti-satellite tests and Russia's arms sales.

Just eight weeks on the job, Gates used the conference and a NATO gathering this past week to debut on the international stage and meet privately with some of his counterparts.

In other comments, he said the Bush administration would like to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, but there are some terrorists there who should never be let free. Gates also said detainee trials there will be conducted in the open and with adequate defense for the prisoners.

The first public test of Gates' diplomatic skills came at a venue that at times was dominated by his more bombastic Pentagon predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld.

So as Gates neared the end of his remarks, he made a deliberate move to separate himself from Rumsfeld.

In the run-up to the Iraq war, Rumsfeld sharply criticized nations opposed to the conflict — specifically France and Germany — and referred to them as part of "Old Europe."

Without mentioning Rumsfeld's name, Gates said some people have tried to divide the allies along lines such as East and West, North and South.

"I'm even told that some have even spoken in terms of 'old' Europe versus 'new,"' Gates said. "All of these characterizations belong in the past."