ISLAMABAD: With the military brass as his audience, Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani expressed satisfaction with the progress in the militancy-hit region, which is being seen as a reaction to the White House criticism of Pakistan’s ‘poor progress’ in counter-insurgency operations in tribal areas. Gen Kayani, presiding over the 137th Corps Commanders’ Conference held at the General Headquarters on Friday, referred to Shangla and Buner (Malakand division) in particular, which have been handed over to civilian control.
That the COAS’ satisfaction with the transition in these areas was mentioned to the press at the end of the conference is being interpreted as an effort to counter the recent White House report which said that Pakistan’s fight against militants lacked crucial ‘hold’ and ‘build’ components to complement clearing operations, which made it possible for the Taliban to return to the areas from where they had been driven out earlier.
However, some analysts are not willing to view this as a sign of rebuttal by the Pakistan military of the White House appraisal as this point was buried in the last paragraph of a press release issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on the corps commanders’ conference.
It stated: “COAS in his remarks expressed satisfaction over the conduct of stability operations in tribal areas and appreciated beginning of transition to civilian control in Shangla and Buner.”
However, it is not difficult to believe that the Pak-US relationship, which has been in the limelight recently, would have come up for discussion.
The army chief does not provide an official reaction to the hiccups in the Pak-US relationship and his protest against last month’s drone attack on a tribal jirga in Waziristan was a rare instance; chances are that this would have come up for discussion.
In addition, there is little doubt that the White House report did not go down well with the GHQ. The Foreign Office had also rejected the report terming references to Pakistan as unwarranted.
Dawn has also learnt that Gen Kayani conveyed Pakistan’s reservations to Centcom Chief Gen James Mattis for whom he hosted a dinner on Thursday. The latter was in Pakistan for two days.
At the corps commanders’ conference, the army chief shared some of the details of his discussions with Gen Mattis. The drawdown of US forces from Afghanistan also featured at the discussions during the conference.
ISPR said the commanders “were given comprehensive briefings on internal and external security challenges Pakistan is facing. The participants dwelt at length on various professional matters and expressed their satisfaction over the state of operational preparedness of the Army.”
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