Good grief. The Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari, told a U.S. Congressional delegation that included Senator John McCain today that the U.S. predator drone operations were undercutting the war on terror in Pakistan - this is the same old line they were using a year ago when they protested every drone attack in NW Pakistan. From the article at Dawn:
Can you imagine? Oh yeah, President Zardari, we'll just go ahead and hand over that UAV technology to you....hell, we'll even throw in a dozen of the aircraft to boot and then train your people and we'll just look the other way when you fly those things over India 24/7!
The Pakistanis have felt the pain of having al Qaeda in their midst more than most countries yet they continue to criticize the kind of attacks that the CIA are conducting that are eliminating and disrupting al Qaeda. Doesn't make much sense, does it? I don't know...with Pakistan, it's always one step forward and two steps backwards - they finally take that huge step forward with the operations against the Taliban in the NW Provinces and agencies and then they manage to take two steps backwards by trying to cut off the intelligence and precision strikes that are keeping al Qaeda out of their nuke facilities.
President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday told a US congressional delegation that drone attacks by the US were undermining the national consensus on the war against terror.But here's the real kicker. Look at this closely:
Talking to a four member US congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain which called on him, President Zardari urged the American lawmakers to persuade the US policy makers to give the drone technology to Pakistan, so that Pakistani security forces could carry out such attack
Can you imagine? Oh yeah, President Zardari, we'll just go ahead and hand over that UAV technology to you....hell, we'll even throw in a dozen of the aircraft to boot and then train your people and we'll just look the other way when you fly those things over India 24/7!
The Pakistanis have felt the pain of having al Qaeda in their midst more than most countries yet they continue to criticize the kind of attacks that the CIA are conducting that are eliminating and disrupting al Qaeda. Doesn't make much sense, does it? I don't know...with Pakistan, it's always one step forward and two steps backwards - they finally take that huge step forward with the operations against the Taliban in the NW Provinces and agencies and then they manage to take two steps backwards by trying to cut off the intelligence and precision strikes that are keeping al Qaeda out of their nuke facilities.
Drone attacks not helping war on terror, says Zardari
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday told a US congressional delegation that drone attacks by the US were undermining the national consensus on the war against terror.
Talking to a four member US congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain which called on him, President Zardari urged the American lawmakers to persuade the US policy makers to give the drone technology to Pakistan, so that Pakistani security forces could carry out such attacks.
The president said that the economic cost of the war against terror amounting to $35 billion for the last eight years had almost paralyzed Pakistan’s economy.
President Zardari asked the delegation for the timely reimbursement of over $1 billion on account of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF).
Referring to President Obama’s new Afghan strategy, the president said that Pakistan had legitimate interests in promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan, adding that US actions should remain on the Afghan side of the border.
The congressional delegation appreciated Pakistan’s role in the war against extremism and militancy and assured full US support in taking this war to its logical end.—DawnNews
No comments:
Post a Comment