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Top US general skips Pakistan visit: report

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, Aug 4, IRNA -- Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen skipped his last visit to Pakistan before retiring, signaling the continuing stalemate in bilateral military relations because of differences over counter-terrorism strategies, media reported.

The admiral visited Afghanistan last weekend and afterwards went to Iraq without a stopover in Pakistan, which would have been normally part of his trip to the region.

'We were just informed that he wouldn't visit Pakistan. We are not aware of any reasons,' a US military official said, Dawn newspaper reported.

Admiral Mullen, whose tenure as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ends next month, acknowledged before embarking on the visit to Afghanistan that the military relationship between Washington and Islamabad, which once formed foundation of bilateral ties, was passing through a difficult phase.

The apparent snub by Admiral Mullen, who was once criticised for being too soft on Pakistan military, was the latest expression of US military establishment`s concerns about the contentious issues that have soured the relationship, Dawn said.

Earlier in July the US suspended 800 million dollars in military aid to Pakistan, which constitutes one third of the total security assistance coming from Washington.

Pakistani military officials read Admiral Mullen's not visiting Pakistan as an expression of displeasure over their refusal to review the decision of sending back American military trainers after the May 2 US raid in Abbottabad.

But, the chairman himself during media interviews indicated that he differed with Pakistani commanders over the timeframe for certain military operations.

For quite some time the US has been pressuring Pakistan to launch a full-scale offensive against the North Waziristan-based Haqqani network.

He had said that his main worry as he left the office was continued presence of safe havens in areas along the border from where al-Qaeda affiliates were planning to launch attacks beyond the region.

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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30507243