ISLAMABAD (AP)– The decision to extend the term of army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani leaves a respected soldier at the helm of Pakistan's most powerful institution just as the U.S. looks for a reliable partner in the war in against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

Kayani, 58, is known to be popular among U.S. and NATO generals who have visited him regularly since he took the top job in 2007, trying to enlist his help in battling militants along the country's border with Afghanistan.
At home, he is praised as a professional solider who has led successful campaigns against extremists in the frontier region, steered the army away from politics after a divisive period of military-backed rule and improved the morale and welfare of the nearly 600,000-strong force.
The announcement late Thursday of a three-year extension in his term was mostly welcomed on Friday, with many saying they agreed with the government's stated reason that the country needed continuity given the ongoing fight against extremism.
The extension begins in November, when his current three-year term ends, meaning Kayani will be in the job when elections are next scheduled for 2013.