Pakistan doing well to meet 'threats' from India, Taliban, says top US admiral

After months of trying to persuade Islamabad to shift its focus from India, the US now says Pakistan has done "pretty well" in meeting the twin threats from India and the growing threat from insurgency.

"They're actually doing pretty well," Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff told CBS channel?s "Face the Nation" programme Sunday when asked how Pakistan?s efforts against the Taliban had picked up at US behest over the last couple of months.

"In fact, they've actually made a lot of progress, taken significant military steps, had a significant impact and moved in a positive direction."

Basically Pakistan Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, is "doing what he told me he would do," he said noting he had engaged the Pakistani general many times.

"He's concerned about the focus both the threat from India as well as the growing threat in terms of the insurgency. He's addressing both of those. Actually they've done pretty well," Mullen said.

"Kayani has a very deliberate plan and he's on his plan," the top US military official said. "He's aware. He knows his country very well. The military leadership knows their country very well. And I think they're dealing with it."

"He has pushed, I mean, he has a force focused in two different directions. He's rotating forces not unlike us. So he's approaching it in a measured, thorough way.

"It's going to take some time. Oftentimes more time than we'd like to give him," Mullen said.

Last updated on Jul 6^th, 2009 at 09:22 am IST--IANS