Terrorist safe havens have shifted bases from Afghanistan to Pakistan's restive tribal areas and the US focus will be now to eliminate them, a top military official said on Thursday.
Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the focus of the Obama administration now is on "eliminating the safe havens which are now in Pakistan --originally, they were in Afghanistan -- and making sure that Afghanistan isn't in a position where they can host those safe havens in the future."
At the same time, Mullen said of late he has had concerns about the growing threat in Yemen -- the growth of
another safe haven for Al-Qaeda in Yemen, as well as Somalia and other areas of the world that he would call potential
failed states.
"We've been focused on this for a significant period of time. We've worked, on the American side -- and the
military side in particular -- to support a growing Yemeni armed forces capability," he said.
We have actually been focused on it for a considerable period of time. We all recognise that so we are
going to continue to support the Yemeni government in the execution of their strategy to eliminate these terrorists,
which is where we are right now, Mullen said.
We have actually been focused on it for a considerable period of time. We all recognise that so we are
going to continue to support the Yemeni government in the execution of their strategy to eliminate these terrorists,
which is where we are right now, Mullen said.