Pakistan making progress in war against terrorism

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has made some ‘real progress’ in the war against terrorism and it is committed in securing its long border with Afghanistan, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday. Gates said this while addressing a press briefing at the Pentagon. The defence secretary said that the recent arrest of Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and two ‘shadow’ Taliban governors was a positive development. "What we are seeing is the importance of operations, on both sides of the border and a manifestation of real progress on the Pakistani side, said Gates. Separately, at a Congressional hearing on Afghanistan operations a prominent US senator and a top Pentagon policy adviser praised the role of Pakistan’s ISI, in the arrests of Afghan Taliban leaders. "What I would say is that the ISI has, in many cases of counter terrorism operations, been a very important partner for our intelligence agencies and actually contributed substantially to the capture of a number of high-level people from terrorist organisations," Michelle Flournoy, undersecretary of Defence for Policy said. Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut appreciated the role of ISI in the recent capture of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.