ISLAMABAD — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he was deeply impressed with Pakistan's military offensive against militants within its borders and said he will leave it to that country's leadership to decide whether or when to expand the fight.
"The Pakistani leadership will make its own decisions" about when or whether they are going to do something. "That's just fine with me," Gates said during an interview with Pakistani and U.S. journalists near the close of his two-day visit to the Pakistani capital.
Gates said he likens the U.S. and Pakistani discussions about the fight against militants on Pakistan's western border to an automobile. He said Pakistan was driving "and that's the way it should be."
Asked whether the U.S. was winning in the long battle against al-Qaida terrorism, Gates said the United States has made progress but hasn't won yet. He said al-Qaida and what he calls a syndicate of affiliated groups are less capable of large-scale, coordinated attacks than they once were and in many cases their leadership has been killed or captured.
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