The next US president must halt missile strikes on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border or risk losing the war against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani warned on Tuesday.
Gilani’s remarks show the difficulties that will face the new American administration as it seeks to eliminate extremists in the lawless frontier region and revitalise Washington’s shaky alliance with nuclear-armed Pakistan.
“No matter who the president of America will be, if he doesn’t respect the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan … anti-America sentiments and anti-West sentiment will be there,” said Gilani in an interview with The Associated Press at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad.
Over the last two months, the US has launched at least 17 strikes on militant targets on tribal areas. Gilani said the US attacks by unmanned drones in the semiautonomous tribal regions were “uniting the militants with the tribes. How can you fight a war without the support of the people?” he said.
The prime minister said the US should share intelligence with Pakistan Army to allow Pakistan to go after militants themselves. “Either they should trust us and they should work with us, otherwise, I think it’s a futile exercise,” he said.
Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Republican rival John McCain have roughly similar positions on Pakistan, though during the campaign differences in emphasis have emerged. Obama has said if he is elected, he could launch unilateral attacks on high-value terrorist targets in Pakistan as they become exposed and “if Pakistan cannot or will not act” against them.
McCain says attacks shouldn’t be discussed “out loud” but has not said he disagrees with them. The increase in strikes since August is seen as a sign of the increasing frustration in Washington at Pakistan’s unwillingness or inability to tackle the threat emanating from the region.
The attacks, and a highly unusual ground raid attack by US forces in September, have killed at least 168 people, including some top extremists but also many civilians, according to Pakistani officials. Their frequency has led some people to speculate that Pakistani leaders have privately agreed to the attacks on the understanding they will publicly criticise them, something denied by Pakistani officials.
Pakistan has little leverage with the United States to force it to stop the strikes because it desperately needs Washington’s help to get it out of a crushing economic crisis. On Monday, Gilani held talks with US Gen David Petraeus, who is making his first tour of the region since taking over the US Central Command last week, a post that puts him in charge of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Gilani said Petraeus “looked convinced” when he told him of the negative consequences of the missile strikes, but gave him no guarantee they would stop.
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