WASHINGTON-- While assuring Pakistan that its ties with the United States were not on the verge of breaking, the U.S. military chief acknowledged on Monday that military-to-military relationship between the two countries was passing through a difficult time.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Foreign Press Centre that America’s military to military ties with India, however, were “going very well”.
He noted that the U.S. and India were cooperating with each other in fighting terrorism and in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.
Pakistani military leaders, particularly Gen Ashfaq Kayani and Gen Shameem Wynne, also understood the importance of retaining the relationship, as did the American leaders, Admiral Mullen said.
The recent suspension of $800 million of annual military aid to Pakistan, he said, “reflects our concerns” on certain issues with the country.
The American military leader, however, focused on his country’s security strategy priorities for the Asia-Pacific region which, he said, required close ties to China as well as an enduring security commitment to other countries there.
But Admiral Mullen also noted that “very real, very substantive issues” inhibit close cooperation and partnership between the U.S. and China.
“We have a long way to go in our relationship with China,” he said, “and no recent history of strategic trust upon which to build it”.
Building a better military relationship with China, he said, would not affect America’s ties to South Korea and Japan.
In this context, the U.S. strategy also includes seeking expanded military cooperation with India on non-proliferation, safeguarding the global commons and countering terrorism, Admiral Mullen said.
(Source: dawn.com)