ISI causing trouble in Kashmir: US

In a damning indictment, America's top military officer Mike Mullen has said the ISI is fomenting "chaotic activity" in Kashmir and Afghanistan.

The US is having "discussions" with the Pakistani leadership on this issue, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said in an interview to Al-Jazeera TV.

"ISI has been supporting militant groups in Kashmir and the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) bordering Afghanistan. That's got to change," said Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen.

Mullen said the ISI has been supporting militant groups in Kashmir and the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) bordering Afghanistan...and in the long run the ISI has to change its strategic thrust which has been to foment chaotic activity in its border countries.

He also spoke on Al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden.

PTI adds: The Al-Qaida leadership, including its elusive supremo Osama bin Laden, was in the restive tribal belt of Pakistan, but the US was not planning to send combat troops to a "sovereign country" to hunt them down, the top American military official has said.

"I do, I do" -- this is how Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen responded when asked during an interview to Al-Jazeera TV whether he believes the Al-Qaida leadership and bin Laden is in Pakistan.

"Our major goal in that area right now is ... to disrupt and defeat Al-Qaida whose leadership resides in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)," he said but ruled out sending troops to Pakistan on hot pursuit as it is a "sovereign country".

"We don't go into sovereign countries," he said.