Terrorism poses greater threat to Pakistan than India: US

The US will push Pakistan to take on extremists operating from its soil and stop considering India as an existential threat so that it can allocate their resources accordingly, a top American general said today.

The US is working to convince Pakistan that extremists in the West are "as great a threat and probably a greater threat to them than any threat that India might pose, Gen Martin Dempsey, President Barack Obama's nominee to be the next Joint Chiefs of Staff said today at his confirmation hearing.

In written response to the questions from the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, Dempsey said the US will "continue to work with Pakistan to reduce the safe haven on the (Pakistan-Afghanistan) border."

"As you know, they persist in the idea that India poses an existential threat to their existence while the terrorists that operate with some impunity in North West Frontier Province and FATA are less of a threat to them, and therefore they allocate their resources accordingly," he said, referring to two parts of Pakistan.

"Our strategic interests and national security goals remain to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaeda and its militant allies, and eliminate their capacity to threaten the US and its allies in the future," General Dempsey said.

"Tactically, Pakistan secures our southern lines of communication into Afghanistan. We also have an interest in stable Pakistan and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology," he said.

Dempsey said he would ask Pakistan to eliminate safe havens inside its territory.

Dempsey, who led troops through insurgency in Iraq, was nominated by Obama to succeed Admiral Mike Mullen as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He conceded before the lawmakers that Pakistan has not been able to take strong action against all the terrorist groups within its territory.

Dempsey said despite best of its efforts the United States has not been able to convince Pakistan about where existential threat comes from.

As a result, the General said Pakistan is not taking actions against all the terrorists groups within its territory.

"I will, Senator," Dempsey said when Senator Carl Levin asked if he will press the government of Pakistan to take the fight to the Haqqani Network in North Waziristan.

"As the acting commander of CENTCOM in those days, we talked about four particular networks that existed along the Afghan-Pak border, and we encouraged our Pakistani counterparts to press them," he said.

"They have pressed some of those groups, but not all. It's not always been clear to us exactly why they press some but not all.  But I will continue to work with Pakistan to reduce the safe haven on the Pak border," Dempsey said.