Updated on
Summary Top US general warned US-Pakistan military-to-military ties were at a very difficult crossroads.
We are in a very difficult time right now in our military-to-military relations, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen told a press briefing billed as his last before retirement.Despite the strain, Mullen said I dont think that we are close to severing those ties. And the retiring admiral said he hoped the two nations would soon find a way to recalibrate those ties.Still, Mullen acknowledged: we need to work through the details of how this (recalibration) is going to happen.Top US officer Mullen has suggested that Pakistans army or Inter-Services Intelligence agency likely killed journalist Saleem Shahzad, who had reported about militants infiltrating the military.US President Barack Obamas administration recently suspended about a third of its $2.7 billion annual defence aid to Pakistan in the wake of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden near the countrys main military academy. But it assured Islamabad it is committed to a $7.5 billion civilian assistance package approved in 2009.
