General David Petraeus, architect of the US military surge credited with dramatically reducing violence in Iraq, has said that Pakistan's leaders need to realise that their biggest threat comes from internal extremists, not from neighbouring India.
General David Petraeus, architect of the US military surge credited with dramatically reducing violence in Iraq, has said that Pakistan's leaders need to realise that their biggest threat comes from internal extremists, not from neighbouring India.
"It's an intellectually dislocating idea for the institutions of Pakistan," Petraeus, the leader of US Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, told a forum at the Harvard University on Tuesday, referring to the country's military and political establishment.
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The goal in working with Pakistan, whose Afghanistan border has become a haven for insurgents, is to help its officials understand that "the existential threat" facing Pakistan "is internal extremists and not India", Petraeus said.
The terrorist attacks on Mumbai last November by Pakistan-based extremist group Laskar-e-Taiba, "was a big setback," he said. The Mumbai attack "was a true 9/11 moment" for India, Petraeus said, adding the government in New Delhi "displayed considerable restraint."
Calling on Islamabad to change its mindset toward India, Petraeus said the shift in thinking that should take place in Pakistan is similar to what happened in the US after the Cold War. America had grown "comfortable" facing off against the Soviet Union, he added.
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