AOver drone attacks:

Pakistan highlights ‘gap’ with US

PAKISTAN: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister said Tuesday US drone attacks are working to the advantage of the extremists, highlighting differences with Washington after talks with top US officials.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi said he flagged up “red lines” in Pakistan’s cooperation with the United States in fighting Islamist militants when he met US military commander Admiral Mike Mullen and envoy Richard Holbrooke.

“We did talk about drones and let me be very frank. There’s a gap. There’s a gap between us and them, and I want to bridge that gap,” Qureshi told a news conference after the talks. Mullen and Holbrooke arrived here late Monday on the first top-level US visit to Pakistan since President Barack Obama put the country at the heart of the fight against Al-Qaeda.

Pakistan is deeply opposed to the drone attacks, around 37 of which have killed over 360 people since August 2008, saying they violate its territorial sovereignty and deepen resentment in the nuclear-armed nation.

“There is a difference of view,” Qureshi told reporters.

“My view is that they are working to the advantage of the extremists. We agree to disagree on this. We will take it up when we meet again in Washington,” Qureshi added.

The foreign minister said Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States would hold trilateral military and civilian talks in the US capital on May 6-7 on the sweeping new US strategy to counter the Afghan war.

“The bottom line is the question of trust. We are partners and we want to be partners,” he said.

“We can only work together if we respect each other and we trust each other. There is no other way. Nothing else will work.” Islamabad, Thursday, AFP