WASHINGTON, Jan 28: “Some level of stability, no safe havens, reasonable development… nuclear weapons not a significant concern in Pakistan,” said America’s top military official when asked what would constitute success for him in the South Asian region.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman US Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the observation while defining America’s national security strategy at a briefing for Washington-based foreign journalists.

The admiral underlined the current situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan as the biggest threat confronting the United States and said that within those two countries, the presence of terrorist elements in Fata was the main cause of concern for Washington.

“And with respect to Al-Qaeda, the biggest concern we have with respect to them is the existence of them in the Fata and Pakistan,” he said.

The United States, he said, wanted to make sure that the safe havens were eliminated and were not recreated in Afghanistan or some other place like Somalia or Yemen.

Admiral Mullen appeared particularly concerned about Afghanistan where he said “the situation… grows increasingly perilous every day”.

The admiral also emphasised the need for developing a regional strategy for defeating terrorism in Afghanistan.

REGIONAL APPROACH: A regional approach, he said, was critical and it should include not just Afghanistan and Pakistan but also Iran and India.

“India plays an important role here. And certainly Iran, as a bordering state, plays a role as well,” he said. “It is important to engage Iran. Iran is unhelpful in many, many ways in many, many areas.”

He said although he was not “overly optimistic” about the success of this regional approach either, “there are mutual interests and I think that that might offer some possibilities.”

Responding to a question about why was Pakistan concerned about India’s expanding role in Afghanistan, Admiral Mullen noted that there’s “certainly a historic tension” between Pakistan and India.

This tension, he said, had “accentuated greatly” as the result of the Mumbai attacks. But “I am comforted that the strategic leadership in both Pakistan and India has been such that we have not had any kind of conflict break out as a result of Mumbai,” he added.