from 23 wide-ranging civil departments, including the National Highway Authority, National Accountability Bureau, Ministry of Education, and Water and Power Development Authority. General elections in 2008 On 7 March 2008 General Kayani confirmed that Pakistan's armed forces would stay out of politics and support the new government. He told a gathering of military commanders in the garrison city of Rawalpindi that "the army fully stands behind the democratic process and is committed to playing its constitutional role." The comments made were after the results of the 2008 Pakistani general election where the Pakistan Peoples Party won the election and began forming a coalition government who were opposed to President Pervez Musharraf. Perceptions of Kayani as COAS When he became COAS, several top-level US officials visited General Kayani in succession to make up their own minds about him. Most, including the then CIA chief Michael Hayden, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell and former CENTCOM-commander Admiral William J. Fallon came away confident that Kayani "knows what he's doing." Kayani's first move as army chief was to visit the front lines in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). He launched several successful operations against the TTP and its affiliates. All major kinetic operations, except the operation in North Waizirstan, were conducted under command of Gen Kayani. He used to frequently visit the frontlines and was always easily accessible. Lt Gen Tariq Khan, Pakistan's famed general, has following words for Gen Kayani: "Gen Kayani did more for the Army than many other Chiefs put together". War in Afghanistan and the United States About the Afghan war, Kayani is reported to have said, "the Pakistani people believe that the real aim of U.S. [war] strategy is to denuclearize Pakistan." In January 2011, and after, there was criticism of General Kayani's handling of the Raymond Davis saga. Davis, a CIA contractor, was hastily tried and acquitted of murder charges in exchange for blood money paid to relatives of the victims, after which he was sent out of Pakistan within a matter of hours. Knowing the dynamics of the Pakistani state and the nature of this particular case, it was impossible for Davis to be released and deported from Pakistan without the knowledge and co-operation of Pakistan's Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The day after Davis' release, over 40 people were killed in the Datta Khel airstrike in North Waziristan in the FATA, in a drone