Pakistan Responds to Admiral Mullen's Charges that Pakistani Intelligence Aiding Haqqani Network

On September 22nd, outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen threw down a gauntlet with Pakistan when he testified that the Haqqani terrorist network is, in essence, working with Pakistani Intelligence (ISI). In particular, he pointed to the US Embassy bombing in Afghanistan and an attack on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, in which 80 Americans were wounded. Pakistan has apparently responded to Mullen's testimony by issuing a threat and demanding evidence of Mullen's claims. Uh, how about Osama bin Laden living one mile away from a Pakistani military academy for five years? They still haven't explained that one. How about letting the Chinese get a look at our helicopter that was downed during the raid?

First up, the relevant portion of Mullen's testimony:



As for Pakistan's response, via WSJ:

Pakistani officials snapped back at the U.S. for saying its spy agency was aiding a militant group that targets Americans, and warned Washington that such accusations could sink their alliance.

Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani called the charges by Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, "very unfortunate and not based on facts."

Earlier Friday, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told an Indian news channel that "pointing fingers at each other will not help." Ms. Khar was in the U.S. for the United Nations General Assembly.

"We've never ventured into the blame game because we want to be a mature, responsible country," she said.

Adm. Mullen told Congress on Thursday that he believed the Haqqani network, a militant group linked to the Afghan Taliban and blamed by the U.S. for an attack last week on its embassy in Kabul, was a "veritable arm" of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence military spy agency.

Gen. Kayani, in a statement issued by the Pakistani military on Friday, denied "accusations of proxy war and ISI support to Haqqanis."

Gen. Kayani said "Adm. Mullen knows fully well which…countries are in contact with the Haqqanis. Singling out Pakistan is neither fair nor productive," the statement said.

The good news may be that we're getting closer to identifying the actual enemies of the United States. The bad news is in how long it's taking us to do so.

More from the hearing HERE.