Dec 3, 2014
Kerry's comment came at the tail end of an unusually long visit to the US by General Raheel Sharif extending to over two weeks.
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry has characterized the Pakistani army as a "truly binding force" in an apparent rapprochement with the country's influential and overbearing military, with which ties were soured over its suspected sheltering of Osama bin Laden.
Kerry's comment, related by a Pakistani military spokesman rather than the State Department, came at the tail end of an unusually long visit to the US by General Raheel Sharif extending to over two weeks. "Secy Kerry acknowledged #Pak role in fighting terror &its sacrifices. Praised Pak Army's professionalism, termed it as truly binding force," tweeted spokesman Asim Bajwa, adding that while "Gen Raheel gave Pak perspective on regional security issues...Secy Kerry welcomed progress on improving #Pak Afghan relations as step to regional stability, assured full support in this regard."
Kerry himself was circumspect about the engagement, merely noting that he had "productive mtg w/#Pakistan Chief of Army Raheel Sharif @StateDept on Twitter and posting a photo of him receiving Gen. Sharif - dressed in civvies - in the State Department. But his aides were more voluble.
"The Secretary recognized the tremendous sacrifices the Pakistani military has made in its efforts to improve the security situation in Pakistan, and acknowledged Pakistan's commitment to counter all forms of terrorism and violent extremism," State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said about the meeting.
It was a different tune from statements in the weeks and months after the nailing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad when the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment came to be seen in a far more adversarial light - consecrated in the ongoing television serial Homeland - and came close to being called a terrorist entity.
However, under the new Army Chief, Pakistan has been scrambling to make nice with the US, launching military action against extremist elements in the badlands on the Afghan border -- where it had avoided doing previously - preparatory to Sharif's US visit.
General Sharif, who took over from his predecessor Ashfaq Kayani earlier this year, arrived in the US on November 16 and had multiple engagements across the country, courting his military counterparts, think-tanks, academia, and lawmakers, before wrapping up the visit with a meeting with Kerry, a long time Pakistan supporter who has lavished the country with aid despite its dubious efforts in fighting terrorism.
In fact, for a change, it was the civilian dispensation in Islamabad that put the army chief in a spot while he was in the US, with the country's foreign policy advisor Sartaj Aziz saying in effect that he saw no reason for Pakistan to take on militants who were not attacking Pakistan itself. The remarks were reeled back by the Pakistan foreign office, even as Raheel Sharif told his interlocutors in Washington that he wanted to take "action against all terrorists without discrimination, (and) rid Pak of terrorism once for all," according to military spokesman Bajwa.
The periodic claims - and certification by US - of Pakistan's sacrifices and fight against terrorism has few takers in Washington where the country duplicity is now consecrated in movies and television dramas. "Your tweet is loaded with so much irony that I'm surprised twitter didn't crash," was one response on social media to Bajwa's statement. Kerry's reported comment that Pakistan's army was a truly binding force" was ironic given that the military lost half the country in a civil war that brought about Indian intervention.
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