Pakistan must change their behavior; China is likely to be the "greatest threat": General Joseph Dunford

A top US military officer, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, on September 26 said at Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing on his re-appointment as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that US would not be able to “attain our objectives” in Afghanistan, where American forces have been deployed since 2001, without a change of behaviour by neighbouring Pakistan. He said the goals of US’ military relationship with Pakistan is to improve the capacity of Islamabad to fight terrorist organisations and to enhance the security along its border with Afghanistan.

On Afghanistan

“The goals of our mil-to-mil relationship with Pakistan are to improve their capacity to fight terrorist organisations and to enhance security along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in order to help achieve stability in this region,”

The strategy has the objectives of enabling the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) to be able to conduct increased offencive operations and secure more of the population from Taliban influence and control, he said. “The strategic objectives also envision more effective Afghan counter-corruption actions, reduction in Pakistani safe havens, and successful Afghan elections in 2018 and 2019. Indicators of progress longer-term include a decline in violence in Afghanistan, and the Taliban participation in peace talks,” Dunford said.

He said the new Afghan strategy removes restrictions on military authorities and force levels in order to reinforce US’ relationship with Afghan forces in support of a peace process. “Specifically, we’re shifting from a timeline to a condition-based approach, and we are adjusting our authorities to increase the effectives of our train, advise, and assist efforts with the Afghan forces,” he said.

He also said that India appears keen to do more in Afghanistan than its already promised USD 3 billion for development aid, , asserting that New Delhi can provide additional training and equipment to build capacity of the Afghan security forces.

"With regard to India, the President called on India to invest more in development projects in Afghanistan. India appears eager to do more beyond the roughly USD 3 billion in development assistance it has provided since 2001," said General Joseph Dunford.

On India

He said a long-term strategic security relationship with India is "critical" to ensuring freedom of navigation in the Indian Ocean, while calling for strengthening of defence ties between the two countries. He also said that said the US and India should continue to expand cooperation in areas of mutual interest like maritime security.

Noting that the US India military relationship is strong and getting stronger, Dunford said the two countries cooperate through complex naval exercises such as Malabar in the Bay of Bengal as well as robust engagement through defence trade and technology cooperation.

On China

Gen. Joseph Dunford, told Congress Tuesday China is likely to be the "greatest threat" of any foe to the US within a decade. "I think China probably poses the greatest threat to our nation by about 2025," Dunford told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The Pentagon's 2017 assessment of China's military capabilities noted that Beijing's "officially disclosed military budget grew at an average of 8.5% per year in inflation adjusted terms from 2007 through 2016."

"We use, largely, Russia and China to benchmark our capabilities," Dunford said Tuesday, warning that in the face of Russian and Chinese military modernization, the US would need to boost the annual defense budget by somewhere between 3% and 7% for the next five years in order "to maintain a competitive advantage over those peer competitors" in the mid 2020s.