Commandant makes 2nd trip to Pakistan

[unhappycamper]

Conway meets with Pakistani counterpart
Urges cooperation in securing Afghan border


Commandant makes 2nd trip to Pakistan
Staff report
Posted : Tuesday Dec 23, 2008 13:52:42 EST

Commandant Gen. James Conway made a trip to Pakistan this week to speak with the embattled country’s top Army officer about coordinating the fight along its border with Afghanistan, CBS Radio reported Monday.

Conway has been lobbying for more than a year to shift the Corps’ focus toward Afghanistan, where a large contingent of U.S. troops is expected to deploy in the coming months.

During Monday’s visit, Gen. Ashfag Kiyani vouched for the “high quality” of Pakistani soldiers stationed along the tense border, thought to be refuge for thousands of militant fighters that stream into Afghanistan, according to the CBS report.

Conway called for a “parallel effort” along the border and reminded Kiyani that any success in Afghanistan is contingent on progress against extremists across the border, CBS radio reported.

The commandant, making his second trip to the region this year, stressed the need to secure vital supply routes from southern Pakistan into landlocked Afghanistan. Equipment moving along that supply route has come under attack of late, including the brazen Dec. 7 attack on a transport terminal near Peshawar, in which 160 military vehicles bound for Afghanistan were torched.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/12/marine_conwaypakistan_122308/%2e