ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari warned the new US commander for Iraq and Afghanistan yesterday that missile strikes on Pakistani territory were “counterproductive” and detrimental to the “war on terror.”
The most high-profile protest yet from Islamabad came as Gen. David Petraeus made his first visit here since he took over the position last week, amid claims that it could signal a shift in strategy in Afghanistan. “Continuing drone attacks on our territory, which result in loss of precious lives and property, are counterproductive and difficult to explain by a democratically-elected government,” Zardari said. “It is creating a credibility gap,” the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan quoted him as saying.
Petraeus’ visit comes at a time when relations between Washington and Islamabad are strained because pilotless US aircraft are regularly targeting suspected militant hideouts in Pakistan’s tribal region along the Afghan border.
According to Pakistani officials, these strikes cause heavy civilian casualties and fuel anti-US sentiment, complicating the country’s efforts to combat terrorism. Pakistan on Wednesday summoned US Ambassador Anne Patterson to lodge a protest against recent US drone attacks.
The raids should be stopped and the focus should be more on enhanced coordination and intelligence sharing, Zardari said, warning that the government was “under pressure to react more aggressively” against the attacks.
Pakistan says only its forces have the right to act against Taleban and Al-Qaeda militants using its tribal region to launch cross-border attacks on US-led international forces in Afghanistan. Six militants were killed and many were injured by Pakistani troops in an action in the Mamoond and Chahrmang areas of the Bajaur tribal district.
Meanwhile, gunmen seized Afghan national Akhtar Kohistani on Sunday in the North-West Frontier Province’s Darosh district, 80 kilometers south of Chitral, the region’s main town. Local police officials said the captive was associated with the United Nations Development Program in Afghanistan. Darosh police chief Sher Akbar said a group of armed men seized Kohistani at his father-in-law’s house.
