ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military says the country’s army chief met with US Ambassador David Hale to express Islamabad’s serious concerns over the drone strike that killed the former Taliban leader.
Wednesday’s military statement says army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif denounced “such acts of sovereignty violations” as “detrimental to relations and counter-productive for the ongoing peace process.”
Sharif insisted that “Pakistan’s efforts, successes and sacrifices in fight against terrorism have been unparalleled.”
Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed inside Pakistan in the drone strike on Saturday that hit his vehicle in Baluchistan province. The airstrike strained relations between Pakistan and the United States.
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan condemned the drone strike and claimed that Mansour was not an obstacle to peace talks.
The United States and the Afghan government have said that Mansour had been an obstacle to a peace process, which ground to a halt when he refused to participate in talks with the Afghan government earlier this year. Instead, he intensified the war in Afghanistan, now in its 15th year.
Mansour had officially led the Taliban since last summer, when the death of the movement’s founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar became public. But he is believed to have run the movement in Mullah Omar’s name for more than two years.
The revelation of Mullah Omar’s death and Mansour’s deception led to widespread mistrust, with some senior Taliban leaders leaving the group to set up their own factions.
Some of these rivals fought Mansour’s men for land, mostly in the opium poppy-growing southern Taliban heartland.
Wednesday’s military statement says army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif denounced “such acts of sovereignty violations” as “detrimental to relations and counter-productive for the ongoing peace process.”
Sharif insisted that “Pakistan’s efforts, successes and sacrifices in fight against terrorism have been unparalleled.”
Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed inside Pakistan in the drone strike on Saturday that hit his vehicle in Baluchistan province. The airstrike strained relations between Pakistan and the United States.
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan condemned the drone strike and claimed that Mansour was not an obstacle to peace talks.
The United States and the Afghan government have said that Mansour had been an obstacle to a peace process, which ground to a halt when he refused to participate in talks with the Afghan government earlier this year. Instead, he intensified the war in Afghanistan, now in its 15th year.
Mansour had officially led the Taliban since last summer, when the death of the movement’s founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar became public. But he is believed to have run the movement in Mullah Omar’s name for more than two years.
The revelation of Mullah Omar’s death and Mansour’s deception led to widespread mistrust, with some senior Taliban leaders leaving the group to set up their own factions.
Some of these rivals fought Mansour’s men for land, mostly in the opium poppy-growing southern Taliban heartland.
