Army Gen. Martin. E. Dempsey revised his assessment of the relationship between the Pakistani and United States militaries, which he described as “a mess,” whereas two weeks ago he said the relationship remained solid despite the recent NATO strike controversy.
Dempsey said “U.S.-Pakistani military-to-military relations ‘are a mess,'” according to the American Forces Press Service — an apparent deterioration from late November, when he assured British media that the relationship was still firm.
Addressing the recent border incident, Dempsey told an audience at the Atlantic Council that he “can absolutely say that it wasn’t something we did intentionally.”
“Regrettably, the Pakistani military believes we did,” he added. “We did not attack a Pakistani military border post intentionally. If you think we did, I’d have to ask you what in the world you’d think we would gain by doing that.”
A State Department spokesperson yesterday would not comment directly on Dempsey’s remarks, but said “this relationship is complicated, but it’s also essential to both the United States and Pakistan.”
