Washington believes such action is critical to success in Afghanistan as it prepares to send an additional 30,000 troops to the country this year. But the comments by army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas clearly indicate Pakistan will not be pressured in the near term to expand its fight beyond militants waging war against the Pakistani state. Whether it can be convinced in the long term is still an open question.
"We are not talking years," Abbas told reporters travelling with Gates. "Six months to a year" would be needed before Pakistan could stabilise existing gains and expand any operations, he said. The United States wants Pakistan to take on militants who use its border region as a safe home base for attacks on US forces in Afghanistan, but Gates said he will not directly press his hosts.
"I think they way I will approach it is simply to ask them what their plans are," Gates said, adding that the United States has heard of plans to expand Military operations against militants in the border area of North Waziristan sometime later this year. "I'd like to explore those with them." Pakistan should be given room to expand its military offensive against militants on its own terms and timetable, Gates said ahead of his talks with the country's civilian and military leaders Thursday.
Referring to intense political pressure in Washington to lean harder on Pakistan, Gates sounded sanguine. "As I try to remind Congress from time to time, and frankly some of the folks in the administration, it's the Pakistanis who have their foot on the accelerator, not us," Gates told reporters at the start of his two-day visit to Pakistan. The political pressure goes two ways. Suspicion of US motives runs high in Pakistan, and many Pakistanis bristle as the notion that Washington could dictate the country's priorities even with a recent promise of an unprecedented $1.5 billion in annual aid.
"We have to do this in a way that is comfortable for them, and at a pace that they can accommodate and is tolerable for them," Gates said. "Frankly, I'm comfortable doing that. I think having them set that pace as to what they think the political situation will bear is almost certainly the right thing to do." He also said his talks with Pakistan's leaders were intended to explain the US war strategy in Afghanistan and reassure Pakistan that the United States is "in this for the long haul."
"Only by pressuring all of these groups on both sides of the border will Afghanistan and Pakistan be able to rid themselves of this scourge for good _ to destroy those who promote the use of terror here and abroad," Gates said. One of the goals of his trip, he said, is "a broader strategic dialogue _ on the link between Afghanistan's stability and Pakistan's; stability in the broader region; the threat of extremism in Asia; efforts to reduce illicit drugs and their damaging global impact; and the importance of maritime security and co-operation."