Tribal areas becoming militant’s centre: US Commander

Monday, July 21, 2008 at 7:19 pm

WASHINGTON: US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman (JCSC) Admiral Mike Mullen has said that there has been a “joining and a syndication of various extremist and terrorist groups” in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which pose an internal threat to Pakistan and cause an increased flow of fighters across the border into Afghanistan.

In an interview on Fox Television, Mullen, who recently visited Pakistan and Afghanistan, said there is “no firm evidence that Al Qaeda is shifting its fighters from Iraq to Afghanistan.”

He said that during his visit to the region, the whole issue of FATA and safe havens for foreign fighters of Al Qaeda and the Taliban had come up.

He claimed that the insurgents are now “freely, much more freely able to come across the border. They are a big challenge for all of us and will have an adverse effect on our ability to move forward in Afghanistan.”

Mike Mullen said the concern is that a safe haven exists in Pakistan where “these fighters, these additional foreign fighters,” have shown up.