Robert Gates: US regrets 'grave mistakes' in Pakistan

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The US defence secretary Robert Gates apologised for America's "grave" mistakes in Pakistan and Afghanistan before the launch of the US 'war on terror' in 2001.

Published: 11:33AM GMT 22 Jan 2010

Mr Gates was visiting Pakistan where he was seeking to bolster ties with Washington's key ally in the fight against al-Qaeda.

In his first visit to the country in three years and first under US President Barack Obama, Mr Gates tried to reassure a public and leadership wary of Washington's plan to tackle militancy and turn around the war in Afghanistan.

"I was in government in the early 1990s, when Russia left the region and the United States largely abandoned Afghanistan and cut off defence ties with Pakistan - a grave strategic mistake driven by some well-intentioned but short-sighted US legislative and policy decisions," said Mr Gates.

Speaking at the National Defense University in Islamabad, he said a US ban on military contacts in the 1990s over Pakistan's nuclear programme undermined a bond between the armed forces and created a "trust deficit" that lingered.

He vowed the United States was "prepared to invest whatever time and energy it takes to forge and sustain a genuine, lasting partnership" with Pakistan.

Rebuilding relationships with a generation of Pakistani officers who have had little contact with the US military will take years, Mr Gates said.

Source : Robert Gates: US regrets 'grave mistakes' in Pakistan - Telegraph