RAWALPINDI , Pakistan ( CNN ) -- The office of Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas has a bank of six flat-screen televisions covering most of one wall , showing all the main international English-language news channels , and several local ones besides . Major General Athar Abbas addresses a news conference in Rawalpindi on April 28 , 2009 . This is one of the rooms where Pakistan 's media war is being fought , and Abbas , the Pakistan army 's main spokesman , is a key part of the battle . I kid with him that CNN is n't among the channels on his screens , and he seems slightly hurt , insisting it is . He 's right and I 'm wrong -- CNN was on a commercial break . In fact , I rather get the impression Abbas , who has become the face of the army 's operation against Taliban militants in the Swat Valley , watches our coverage closely . One of his subordinates complains about one of our reports -- not the accuracy , but something in the general tone . Perhaps CNN has been just a little too questioning of the army 's daily press releases , which claim hundreds of enemy fighters killed , and tightly controlled media trips . Whatever Abbas thinks of CNN , he is more than willing to explain how the Pakistan army sees the broad picture as it fights in the Swat Valley . The current conflict there is intricately linked to the situation in Afghanistan , in his view . He sees Swat as a political problem , which can only be partially solved by military intervention . He claims many of the Taliban 's arms are coming across the border from Afghanistan . I ask if that includes NATO weapons , as suggested in recent reports , and he agrees . He says Washington is too focused on the safety of Pakistan 's nuclear arsenal . The United States should `` stop worrying about the nukes and start worrying about the weapons lost in Afghanistan , '' he says . A U.S. government report last month warned that the Pentagon did not have `` complete records '' for about one-third of the 242,000 weapons the United States had provided to the Afghan army , or for a further 135,000 weapons other countries sent . The Afghan army `` can not fully safeguard and account for weapons , '' the Government Accountability Office found . I ask how well armed the Taliban are , and he says they are `` very well equipped from the border area . '' He also conspiratorially suggests they also are getting weapons and support from `` foreign intelligence agencies . '' When I ask what that means , he smiles and says he ca n't elaborate -- declining to repeat the speculation in the press here that India , Pakistan 's traditional rival , may be somehow involved in stirring up trouble on Pakistan 's northwestern border . India denies that . But the very suggestion plays to a military strategist 's nightmare scenario -- the Pakistan army bogged down in the northwest , unable to focus on the disputed province of Kashmir , a key element of its conflict with India . The military wants to get done in Swat as soon as possible , but the general acknowledges its troops will be there for some time . He estimates that 10 to 15 percent of the Taliban there are foreign fighters : `` Well-trained Arabs , Afghans , with a sprinkling of central Asians and North Africans . '' He also says there are Yemenis , Saudis and Uzbeks fighting , as Pakistan has become the destination du jour of the international jihadist , with Arabs in commanding positions and the other foreign fighters bringing in expertise . He thinks that perhaps Mingora , the main town at the gateway to the Swat Valley , may be secured in 48 hours , but it may be much , much longer before the area is totally pacified . `` First you have to disarm the Taliban and then re-establish the writ of government , '' he says . He admits that Swat and neighboring Bajur Districts `` were lost to the state '' and that now `` we are paying in blood for areas we had already occupied . '' Now , he says , the army is set for a long fight . `` We are prepared for that -- we are mentally prepared . '' But they are also prepared for the conflict to be taken to other parts of Pakistan . A building belonging to the country 's powerful intelligence agency , the ISI , was bombed in Lahore this week . The Taliban claimed they carried out the attack and Abbas says the security services expect more attacks . Just hours after I left him , his fears were confirmed , as details came in of more bombings in Peshawar . And then there is also the risk of the Taliban using the mass exodus of civilians from the Swat Valley as cover to penetrate other towns and cities . Already almost 3 million people have flooded out of what was once a tranquil tourist destination , and the military fears that among the mass movement of humanity there will be those plotting to strike at the heart of Pakistan 's cities . `` It 's a very big issue -- a serious concern , '' Abbas says . He describes the conflict in Swat as `` an existential threat '' -- a fight for the very existence of Pakistan in its current form . And he seems acutely aware that the portrayal of that conflict to the West will be critical .
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas says Taliban 's arms coming across border from Afghanistan . He says Washington is too focused on the safety of Pakistan 's nuclear arsenal . He considers conflict in Swat a fight for the existence of Pakistan in its current form . He seems acutely aware that the portrayal of that conflict to the West will be critical .