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Pakistan complains of 'alienation' from US drone strikes
Prague (AFP) March 13, 2009 Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi complained of "alienation" resulting from US drone strikes on his country on Friday, a day after a suspected US strike killed 24 people there. "There is collateral damage that accompanies these attacks, and it leads to alienation," he said after meeting European Union officials in Prague. "If we want a success in this fight against extremism and terrorism, we have to carry the people along," added Qureshi, whose country is a key regional ally of the US. Qureshi praised unmanned drones whose missiles destroyed a Taliban training camp in northwest Pakistan on Thursday as "superior technology" that can "take out high-value targets," but he also warned the US to weigh the pros and cons of its tactics. "The US government should weigh the advantages with the disadvantages. If these disadvantages outweigh the advantages, we feel there is a case to review the strategy," Qureshi said. The US military as a rule does not confirm drone attacks but the armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy drones in the region. More than 30 such strikes have killed over 330 people since August 2008, shortly before key Washington ally President Asif Ali Zardari was elected. Thursday's attack was the fifth missile strike blamed on unmanned US aircraft since President Barack Obama came to power, dashing Pakistani hopes that the new administration would abandon the policy. Qureshi said in Prague that Pakistan would discuss this issue with the new US administration "perhaps next month," without elaborating. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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