(9 Feb 2008)
1. United States Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, entering news conference
2. Pakistani military officer sitting beside US military officer and US ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson
3. Cutaway of media
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff:
"To as you say, look at the number of attacks, look at the suicide bombers, certainly the threat is going up and we were both concerned about that. Certainly in my meetings today all of the leadership expressed concern about being able to eliminate that threat over time."
5. Wider shot of Mullen at podium
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff:
"They (the Taliban and Al Qaeda) have found safe havens here and its in those safe havens that we are now very focused on and the challenge that we all have in addressing that threat is represented I think very clearly in the upsurge in violence, the change in tactics. It's a very deadly lethal enemy that will not cease and that is why we have to work it very hard together."
7. Cutaway of Mullen's uniform and decorations
8. Wide pan of news conference
STORYLINE:
The top US military commander said on Saturday that the threat of Islamic extremism was growing in Pakistan and that the country's leadership was keenly aware of the challenge facing the nation.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the comment to reporters after meetings with Pakistan's senior leadership including President Pervez Musharraf and the army's chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Islamabad.
Mullen said much of the discussion centered on the situation along Pakistan's lawless northwestern border with Afghanistan, where Pakistani forces have been battling Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.
"Certainly the threat is going up," Mullen said. "We're both concerned about that. Certainly in my meetings today, all the leadership expressed concern about being able to eliminate that threat over time."
US officials have complained privately that the Pakistani leadership had underestimated the threat posed by Islamic extremists, who, at least in the past, have had close ties with Pakistani intelligence officials.
Mullen's remarks came on the same day a suicide bomb attack killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 45 others at an election rally in a northwestern town, according to officials.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, but Islamic extremists are known to operate in the area.
Fighting increased sharply last year between Pakistani government forces and militants, some of whom sought refuge in Pakistan after being driven out of Afghanistan.
Mullen said he came away from his talks saying he's even even more convinced that the border regions are very tough and that Pakistani forces are making very real sacrifices in this war.
"They (the Taliban and Al Qaeda) have found safe havens here and its in those safe havens that we are now very focused on and the challenge that we all have in addressing that threat is represented I think very clearly in the upsurge in violence, the change in tactics," he told a news conference.
Mullen also said he believed that Pakistan's military had secured the country's nuclear arsenal and he wasn't worried about weapons falling into the hands of terrorists.
Mullen arrived in Pakistan on Friday for a three-day visit, his first since becoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last year.
He travels to the city of Peshawar on Sunday to meet with commanders of the Pakistani 11 Corps, which is fighting in the border area.

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