Petraeus: Pakistan could fall as state

The commander of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and a top Pentagon official have voiced concern over the region's growing militancy. 

General Gen. David H. Petraeus admitted to a Senate panel on Wednesday that from a military point of view, the United States saw Pakistan and Afghanistan as a single theater. 

"Although the additional resources will be applied in different ways on either side of (their mutual border), Afghanistan and Pakistan comprise a single theater that requires comprehensive 'whole-of governments' approaches that are closely coordinated," Petraeus said. 

The top general went on to repeat Washington's criticism of Islamabad's handling of the insurgency on its soil, warning that the threat could dismantle Pakistan as a 'state', should it remain 'unchallenged'. 

"It is in Pakistan that al-Qaeda senior leadership and other transnational extremist elements are located," he added. 

He added that the country needed support in operations aimed at eradicating militants hiding in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, a problem that surged following the 2001 US-led invasion of the neighboring country. 

Petraeus urged US assistance, adding that, “extremists…pose a truly existential threat to their country [Pakistan]." 

Michele A. Flournoy, a top Defense Department official, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the US troops in Afghanistan would suffer 'higher human' losses this year after braving record casualties in 2008 since the start of the war. 

The military's Special Operations commandos, Adm. Eric T. Olson, also painted a grim picture of the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

The panel pressed the officials for the first time to answer questions on President Obama's recently announced plans for the region, publicly questioning the advising trio for their part in formulating the new strategy. 

The Senate Armed Services Committee mainly focused on the means by which the advisors would 'assess' the threats in Pakistan and the strategies that would be drawn up to tackle such threats. 

The meeting followed a statement by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which said that the group was planning a terrorist attack on the US to 'amaze' the world. 

"Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world," TTP leader Baitullah Mehsud said Tuesday. 

Obama, who admitted on Wednesday that such threats exist, has pledged more aid to Pakistan, pressing Islamabad to crack down on al-Qaeda and Taliban forces active within the country's borders.