Pak faces threat from Taliban not India, says Petraeus

Asserting that a mere recognition of threat posed by the Taliban to the country is not enough, a top American military general said  on Sunday that the Pakistan Army should shift its "tradional focus" from India to internal extremists.

Testifying before a Congressional committee, Commander of US Central Command General David Petraeus said it is imperative that Pakistan recognises that the most pressing threat to the very existence of its country is the threat posed by the Taliban and other internal extremists groups and their syndicate in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

"The extremists that have established sanctuaries in Pakistan's rugged border areas not only contribute to the deterioration of security in eastern and southern Afghanistan, they also pose an ever-more serious threat to Pakistan's very existence," he said. "That is the most pressing threat that they face right now," he argued. "Military forces over time have to be configured for that kind of fight, that kind of threat, rather than strictly focused on the conventional threat that has been traditionally the focus of the military to their east in India," he said.