Pakistan not an ally of US: Gates

Robert Gates, the former US Defence Secretary who was the strongest supporter of Pakistan, believes that Islamabad is not an ally of America and it will not give up its policy of supporting terrorists.
"Although I would defend them in front of Congress and to the press to keep the relationship from getting worse - and endangering our supply line from Karachi - I knew they were really no ally at all," Gates writes in his forthcoming book titled 'Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War'.
Referring to his visit in January 2010 - his second and the last one to Pakistan - wherein he met the then President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Gates writes that he returned convinced that Islamabad would not give up its policy of supporting terrorists.

"No administration in my entire career devoted more time and energy to working the Pakistanis than did President (Barack) Obama and all his senior team," Gates, who was the defence secretary from December 2006 to July 2011, writes.
"My message was consistent: we were committed to a long- term strategic partnership; we needed to work together against the 'syndicate of terror' placing Afghanistan, Pakistan and India at risk; we needed to remove safe havens on both side of the border; Pakistan needed to better control anti-Americanism and harassment of Americans; and the Pakistani army's 'extra-judicial killings' (executions) were putting our relationship at risk," Gates writes in his memoir.

The book is scheduled to be released next week.

"The visit was for naught," Gates writes referring to his meetings with the Pakistani leaders on January 21-22, 2010.
"I returned convinced that Pakistan would work with the US in some ways - such as providing supply lines through Pakistan, which were also highly profitable - while at the same time providing sanctuary for the Taliban and other extremists, so that no matter who came out on top in Afghanistan, Pakistan would have influence. If there was to be any reconciliation, the Pakistanis intended to control it," Gates said.
In his memoir running into more than 600 pages, Gates says weeks before his inauguration, Obama asked him to travel to Chicago to attend a meeting of his transition's national security team, which among others was attended by Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.

The meeting, held in December, spent nearly an hour discussing on Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, Gates writes.
"Pakistan was described as the biggest, most dangerous situation," he writes.