U.S., Pakistani military leaders secretly meet

Source: Xinhua | 08-29-2008 16:06

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. and Pakistani military leaders met earlier this week to discuss the growing terror threat in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Pentagon sources said Thursday.

Sources in Pentagon were quoted by U.S. news outlets as saying that participants included Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and Pakistani Army chief of staff Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.

The talks, held Tuesday aboard U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in the Indian Ocean, focused on how to "better work together to defeat extremists on the border and to help Pakistan deal with its own internal threats from extremism."

The meeting came amid a growing acknowledgment by U.S. officials that the Taliban has shifted tactics and is now conducting military-style attacks against U.S. troops.

The U.S. military has been pressing Kayani for months to crack down on militants in the border region in part because of the growing number crossing into Afghanistan to attack American troops.

Mullen said after the meeting that he is not satisfied with the efforts to thwart the threat of terrorism in Pakistan, but thought the U.S.-Pakistani cooperation is moving toward a "right direction."

Editor:Gao Jia