President Barack Obama’s pick for defence secretary, Ashton Carter, is willing to expand US counter-terrorism cooperation with Pakistan and advancing efforts to arm and integrate Sunni tribal forces into Iraq’s battle against Islamic State (IS) militants, according to the opening statement Carter is due to read to the Senate on Wednesday.
Obama’s nominee is poised to tell Republicans in Congress that he might eventually consider reviewing the schedule for withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan, and would push to trim wasteful spending.
Carter heads to the Senate for a 9.30am confirmation hearing that is expected to be far smoother than the one that …read more
Source: Pakistan Today
