The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, reiterated on Wednesday a US commitment to respect Pakistan's sovereignty after a flurry of US strikes on militants in Pakistan strained relations between the allies. Mullen said this month he was not convinced Western forces were winning in Afghanistan and he was “looking at a new, more comprehensive strategy” that would cover both sides of the border, including Pakistan's tribal areas. US officials say Taleban and Al-Qaeda-linked fighters use ethnic Pashtun tribal regions on the Pakistani side of the border as a springboard for attacks into Afghanistan. A new government in nuclear-armed Pakistan has promised support for the US-led campaign against militancy even though the campaign is deeply unpopular with many Pakistanis. But Islamabad objects to cross-border strikes and protested against a bloody helicopter-borne ground assault by US commandos in South Waziristan this month. There have been five US missile strikes this month, killing militants and civilians. In talks with army commander General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Mullen expressed appreciation for the positive role Pakistan was playing in the war on terror and pledged US support, the US embassy said in a statement. “Admiral Mullen reiterated the US commitment to respect Pakistan's sovereignty and to develop further US-Pakistani cooperation and coordination,” the embassy said. Meanwhile, Pakistan's army said its forces have orders to open fire if US troops launch another raid across the Afghan border, raising the stakes in a dispute over how to tackle militant havens in Pakistan's unruly border zone. The new firing orders were disclosed by Pakistani army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. Abbas said Pakistani field commanders have previously been tolerant about international forces crossing a short way into Pakistan because of the ill-defined and contested nature of the mountainous frontier. “But after the (Sept. 3) incident, the orders are clear,” Abbas said. “In case it happens again in this form, that there is a very significant detection, which is very definite, no ambiguity, across the border, on ground or in the air: open fire.” The statement was the strongest since Gen. Kayani raised eyebrows last week by vowing to defend Pakistani territory “at all cost.” Pakistan says US strikes could spark an uprising among its Pashtun minority along the border. The tension with the US compounded worry on Pakistan's financial markets. Dealers said the rupee weakened to a new low of 77.20/30, partly because of the row with the United States, a major source of financial help for Pakistan as it struggles with economic problems, but it firmed slightly before the close. Stocks also ended down in the lowest ever trading volume with tension with the US adding to worry about a global financial crisis and weak domestic economic fundamentals. US President George W. Bush approved the US commando assault in South Waziristan on Sept. 3 without Islamabad's permission as part of a presidential order on covert operations, officials and sources familiar with the matter said. But officials and analysts in Washington said the Bush administration was unlikely to use commando raids as a common tactic against militant havens in Pakistan because of the high-stake risks to US policy in the region. “Unilateral actions are probably not a durable or a viable solution over a prolonged period of time,” US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said during a visit to Hong Kong.
