In a move officials are calling unprecedented, three high profile figures, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, new Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey and CIA Director David Petraeus have all arrived in Pakistan today, with major talks on the Haqqani Network and its putative ties with the Pakistani government believed to be on the docket.
The deployment of such large numbers of figures is meant to show “unity” among US officials on their demands of Pakistan, which it is accusing of operating the Haqqani Network as a de facto part of its military and ordering them to attack US targets in Afghanistan.
The US has repeatedly blamed the Haqqanis for attacks over the past several months, going so far as to accuse them of an attack on the US embassy even after the Afghan Taliban had already claimed it, and then insisting the Afghan Taliban were “lying” about it.
Though the large number of officials going all at once is unusual, high profile visits aimed at saving ties with Pakistan are not, and historically such talks have ended with US officials launching new public tirades against them and tensions even worse than when they arrived.
