WASHINGTON – *US Gen. Joseph L Votel, commander of US Central Command(CENTCOM), testified before the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesdaynight on terrorism and said maintaining a block on US military and foreignaid to Pakistan was Washington’s “current posture”.*

He said any success in Afghanistan will require a strong relationship withPakistan.

“My view is that success in Afghanistan and South Asia will require astrong relationship and the cooperation of Pakistan,” Votel said adding hespeaks almost weekly with his Pakistani counterpart the two often meet faceto face.

Votel said “our (CENTCOM) relationship with Pakistan is and must be atwo-way street. We must rebuild trust.” He said he could not characterizethe relationship as trustworthy at the moment.

He said the United States has tried to be very clear in terms of whatPakistan needs to do for Washington and that it must be “a two-way streethere”.

Votel says the “pressure put on Pakistan” has brought better cooperation,but that there is still work that needs to be done.

He said the US military is seeing some “positive indicators” from Pakistanshowing it is becoming more responsive to US concerns about militantsafehavens in the country but Islamabad has yet to make a strategic shift.

Votel told the committee that the Afghan government controls 64 percent ofterritory, the Taliban 12 percent and the remaining 24 percent iscontested.

He said the US’s strategy in Afghanistan is for military force and socialpressure to “break the stalemate,” and to drive the Taliban to the peacetalks table and lay the foundation for “credible elections.”

Votel told the House Armed Services Committee the big idea in Afghanistanis a “drive toward reconciliation” to get the Taliban “to the (talks)table”.

Votel’s testimony came just hours before the second Kabul Process meetingopened in the Afghan capital which saw representatives from 25 nations andorganizations including the UN and NATO taking part.

In his opening remarks, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani laid down a list ofsuggestions government was prepared to consider if the Taliban laid downtheir weapons and joined the peace process.

Among the suggestions was the offer of an office in Kabul for the Talibanand to recognize them as a political group.