Pakistan military spells out ‘concerns’ to US commander

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan spelt out “concerns” dogging its troubled alliance with the United States at talks Thursday with the most senior American to visit since the release of CIA operative Raymond Davis who murdered two Pakistanis. US commander of the Middle East and Afghanistan, General James Mattis, flew in as relations took a further knock from a White House report criticising Pakistan’s fight against Taliban and al Qaeda on the Afghan border. Mattis was meeting Pakistan’s army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee, General Khalid Shamim Wynne, Lt Col Michael Shavers at the US embassy told AFP. During the meetings, Mattis would “hear from them their concerns with regard to the relationship with the US military here”, Shavers said. “It’s not extraordinary… it’s a military to military relationship,” said an official of the US embassy in Islamabad. The Pakistan military confirmed that the Mattis talks dealt with Afghanistan and “military cooperation,” but commanders did not give detailed comment. – Dailytimes