WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Defense Secretary Robert Gates affirmed a US right to act in self-defense against extremists in Pakistan but said it was essential that the new civilian government in Islamabad be "a willing partner."
Gates pointed to the bombing of a Mariott hotel in Islamabad as evidence that the United States and Pakistan face a common existential threat, and expressed hope for "an even stronger partnership" with President Asif Ali Zardari than with his predecessor, General Pervez Musharraf.
"I think it is essential for Pakistan to be a willing partner in any strategy we have to deal with the threat coming out of the western part of Pakistan and the eastern part of Afghanistan," Gates said at a hearing of Senate Armed Services Committee.
Stepped up US missile strikes into safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas and a reported raid by US special operations forces has strained relations between the two countries, however.
Zardari, who meets Tuesday in New York with US President George W. Bush, vowed on Saturday that Pakistan would not tolerate violations of its sovereignty.
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives laden truck at a Marriott hotel in Islamabad a short time later, killing at least 60 people.
Gates said that in his view the UN charter allows the United States to act in self-defense against international extremists in Pakistan if the government is unable or unwilling to deal with them.
"I will say to you, though, we will do what is necessary to protect our troops, but it is every important to engage the Pakistani government.
"And I think the threat that they are seeing, threats to themselves, creates the opportunity where we can work together and there is no necessity for us to take any actions to protect our troops along those lines," he said.
Gates and General James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there were signs of improved cooperation with the Pakistanis despite the frictions.
Recent Pakistani military operations in northwestern border area was having a positive impact, Gates said.
Cartwright said there also has been "an uptick" in the Pakistan's willingness to participate in border control centers where US, Afghan and Pakistani military personnel share intelligence and coordinate actions in the border.
But neither Gates nor Cartwright appeared to be aware of a more ambitious Afghan proposal for a joint US-Afghan-Pakistani military task force that would be empowered to operate on both sides of the border.
Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told reporters at the Pentagon Monday that the Pakistanis had said they would look at the proposal.
Gates said the idea had not been mentioned when he visited Kabul last week, but he added that Afghan President Hamid Karzai may have raised it with Zardari at his inauguration earlier this month.
The defense secretary acknowledged that the Pakistanis did not see all insurgent groups as enemies.
Pakistan, he said, has had a long-term relationship with the group led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the Hezb e-Islami party, and another by Jalaludin Haqqani, a former Taliban commander.
"I think in many respects they don't see the Taliban as their enemy," he said.
"They see some of the insurgents, they see the foreign fighters, they see al-Qaeda as their enemy, and particularly if it is shown that Al-Qaeda is behind the Marriott bombing and so on," he said.
"So frankly, I think one of the keys in terms of expanding our cooperation with the Pakistanis is identifying common threats," Gates said.
"If they see us taking an action, it has been somebody they consider an enemy to them as well. So that's one avenue of approach," he said.
Cartwright added that a joint command with the Pakistanis would allow intelligence sharing "so that there is visual proof or convincing proof that someone is an adversary."
Meanwhile, though, the Joint Staff is studying alternative routes to Pakistan for moving supplies to the 33,000 US troops in Afghanistan, Cartwright said.
Currently, about 40 percent of the dry bulk supplies and 60 percent of the fuel go through Pakistan.
"We still take this issue seriously because it could be a vulnerability," Cartwright said.
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