RT Monitoring Desk
WASHINGTON: A top US military commander has underlined the need for greater cooperation with Islamabad in tackling al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in the tribal areas, saying the “threat challenges the stability in both Pakistan as well as Afghanistan”. “We want to cooperate very closely with the Pakistan military to try to help them to be even more successful, to build their capacity to deal with this, because it is a threat that challenges stability in both Pakistan as well as Afghanistan,” said Admiral William Fallon, the commander of the Central Command (CentCom). Maintaining that the writ of the government “is pretty thin” in the tribal areas, Admiral Fallon, said that it is difficult to make a differentiation between Pakistan and Afghanistan on the kind of overlap that exists in the restive area that has attracted al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. “This has been a place that attracted al-Qaeda and those Taliban that fled in 2001 and 2002. And they`ve tended to concentrate in that area,” the top Pentagon official said on PBS. Admiral Fallon said although the Pakistani military was putting pressure on the militants in recent weeks there is work left to be done. “The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is pretty much ungoverned. Certainly, the writ of government from Islamabad is pretty thin out there,” the top CentCom official said. “Nonetheless, the level of cooperation, particularly in recent months, between the Pakistani military, Afghan military, and ourselves, has resulted in significant success,” he pointed out. US Admiral Fallon said the Pakistan Military’s response to the instabilities that resulted in the Red Mosque incident and these tragic bombings have caused the government to realise that they “have a significant threat.” “And they have now moved their regular military forces into parts of this area (FATA) in an attempt to put pressure on the insurgents,” the top military official said. “I think the insurgents now are faced with the challenge of not only having us in the west on the Afghan side, working with the afghan security forces, but now they`ve got the Pakistan military squeezing them on the right,” Admiral Fallon said.