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| India-Pakistan |
| Drone attacks fuelling anti-US feelings, PM tells Holbrooke |
| 2009-08-19 |
| [The News (Pak) Top Stories] Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilanion Monday urged the US to provide drone technology to enable Pakistan armed forces to take action against terrorists. He emphasized that the drone attacks remained a matter of public concern in Pakistan. They were counter-productive to government's efforts for isolating the terrorists and the concomitant collateral damage was exploited by the extremists for fuelling anti-Americanism in the country, he added. He was talking to US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who called on him at the Prime Minister's House Monday. The visiting envoy discussed the bilateral cooperation on war on terror, repatriation and rehabilitation of displaced persons of Malakand division and US aid and assistance for the development of various sectors of Pakistan. The prime minister welcomed US President Barack Obama's initiative to form a joint task force for assisting Pakistan in overcoming the present energy crisis in the country and called on the US government and private sector to support specific projects and mobilize investment in Pakistan's energy sector. While dilating on government of Pakistan's strong and successful counter terrorism offensive in Swat and Malakand, the prime minister highlighted the fact that it had the complete support of Parliament, security institutions, political and religious leadership, civil society and media. The prime minister apprised Ambassador Holbrooke of his government's relentless efforts to promote good governance, transparency and accountability in the country. He stated that it was first time in Pakistan's parliamentary history that the Leader of the Opposition had been appointed the Chairman of Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly. The prime minister added that the judiciary and media were completely independent now and hence the process of accountability to check the wrongdoings in any government department has become institutionalized. Ambassador Holbrooke stated that he was most impressed with the very successful Swat operation. He paid glowing tributes to the government and Pakistan Army for determinedly taking on the militants and terrorists, providing relief to the dislocated persons and undertaking steps for their rehabilitation. He said the US would fully back government of Pakistan in its reconstruction efforts in Swat and Malakand and the US assistance pledged in the Friends of Democratic Pakistan Tokyo meeting would soon be disbursed towards that end. He also assured the prime minister of his government's full support for overcoming the energy crisis, which he termed as the foremost problem in Pakistan. He informed the prime minister that the US Economic Advisor David Lipton and specialist Mary Beth Goodman would be visiting Pakistan by the end of this month to hold discussions with the joint task force being constituted to find ways and means for overcoming the energy crisis. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 clearly this requires a military AND political AND economic solution. And hearts and minds matter. But drones can get very high value targets that cannot be gotten any other way. To say something has a cost, does not mean there wont be times when the benefit justifies the cost. The US military knows that. The US administration knows that. And the Pakistani govt knows that. It benefits the Pakistani govt to appear to push back on drone strikes. As much of a stretch as it is, some Pakistanis apparently actually believe that pushback is not just for show. Which I can only attribute to the backward state of the Pakistani educational system, low literacy levels, etc, etc. |
| Posted by: liberal hawk 2009-08-19 14:51 |
| #4 Well about 95% of the political appointees and an astonishing number of regulars, incl. in uniform, would swallow this whole and even point to it as vindication. Come on, you loutish linear thinkers, starting eating soup with a knife, winning hearts and minds, etc. There are no military solutions to military problems. Start getting with the program or it's more graduate education for you. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2009-08-19 12:36 |
| #3 How about - Anti-terrorists Feelings Fueling More Drones |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-08-19 08:37 |
| #2 concomitant collateral damage was exploited by the extremists for fuelling anti-Americanism in the country, he added The amazing thing is how long lines like this worked. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-08-19 04:20 |
| #1 Horse$hit. They'll say anything they think works to get their hands on this tech. Why do you suppose that is? We do their work for them. Must have plans to sell it to someone. |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-08-19 01:41 |