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The US has risked infuriating Pakistan’s military by launching a drone attack in North Waziristan, on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, killing eight suspected militants.
The missile attack on Friday is the first since the shooting of Osama bin Laden in a US helicopter-borne raid on his refuge in a garrison city, 50km from Islamabad, earlier this week.
A renewed US assault on Pakistani territory comes hours after Pakistan’s top commanders warned that they would not tolerate a repeat attack by the US. Their terse public reaction to bin Laden’s killing also called for a reduction in the number of US military personnel in Pakistan.
Drone attacks are deeply unpoplar in Pakistan and are a lightning rod of public resentment of the US. Civilian and military leaders have repeatedly criticised Washington for launching them on militant suspects within Pakistan.
But US officials are adamant that they have brought results by killing militants or keeping others on the run. Some consider them able to accomplish more than Pakistani soldiers on the ground in remote areas like North Waziristan.
An attack on the heels of the US commando raid shows that Washington wants to keep up momentum in its fight against militants in the region. A series of strikes in past weeks has reportedly inflicted heavy casualties among senior al-Qaeda leaders.
One diplomat said that a likely outcome of the raid on Abbottabad, the al-Qaeda leader’s hiding place, was that the US was likely to shift to using the “stick” rather than carrots in its relationship with the Pakistan military, as it seeks results in fighting militancy. “We are going to see a shift in the balance,” he said.
He also said there would be pressure within the US to justify the considerable military assistance that Washington gives Pakistan.
The response to the bin Laden raid by General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Pakistan’s military chief, has reflected the discomfort his forces feel over US covert action. The raid exposed Pakistan’s undefended western border with Afghanistan.
“The chief of army staff made it very clear that any similar action, violating the sovereignty of Pakistan, will warrant a review on the level of military/intelligence co-operation with the US,” the army said in a statement.
Pakistan's largest religious political party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, has called for protests across the country to denounce the US operation that killed bin Laden. The US, meanwhile, has been publicly emollient, resisting suggestion of a deterioration in bilateral relations.
Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, said Pakistan was an “important partner” in the war on terror which had helped put pressure on the leadership of al-Qaeda. She was commenting on doubts about the reliability of Pakistan as an ally after the discovery that bin Laden had been hiding in a military garrison town near the capital.
“It is not always an easy relationship,” Mrs Clinton told a news conference in Rome. “But on the other hand it is a productive one for both our countries.”
News of the US strike came at the same time as reports of information gleaned by Pakistani intelligence officials in interrogations of the people who lived in Bin Laden’s compound.
Some members of Bin Laden’s family had lived in the Abbottabad compound for six years. Pakistani intelligence officials described the al-Qaeda leader as cash-strapped and living a modest life surrounded by women and children.
Pakistani authorities are braced for revenge attacks following bin Laden’s killing. On Friday, gunmen opened fire on members of the minority Shia community visiting a cemetery in Quetta, in south western Pakistan, in a suspected militant attack.
The missile attack on Friday is the first since the shooting of Osama bin Laden in a US helicopter-borne raid on his refuge in a garrison city, 50km from Islamabad, earlier this week.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
US lays bare mistrust of Pakistan - May-04
Pakistan condemns CIA drone strike - Apr-13
Drone attacks are deeply unpoplar in Pakistan and are a lightning rod of public resentment of the US. Civilian and military leaders have repeatedly criticised Washington for launching them on militant suspects within Pakistan.
But US officials are adamant that they have brought results by killing militants or keeping others on the run. Some consider them able to accomplish more than Pakistani soldiers on the ground in remote areas like North Waziristan.
An attack on the heels of the US commando raid shows that Washington wants to keep up momentum in its fight against militants in the region. A series of strikes in past weeks has reportedly inflicted heavy casualties among senior al-Qaeda leaders.
One diplomat said that a likely outcome of the raid on Abbottabad, the al-Qaeda leader’s hiding place, was that the US was likely to shift to using the “stick” rather than carrots in its relationship with the Pakistan military, as it seeks results in fighting militancy. “We are going to see a shift in the balance,” he said.
He also said there would be pressure within the US to justify the considerable military assistance that Washington gives Pakistan.
The response to the bin Laden raid by General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Pakistan’s military chief, has reflected the discomfort his forces feel over US covert action. The raid exposed Pakistan’s undefended western border with Afghanistan.
“The chief of army staff made it very clear that any similar action, violating the sovereignty of Pakistan, will warrant a review on the level of military/intelligence co-operation with the US,” the army said in a statement.
Pakistan's largest religious political party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, has called for protests across the country to denounce the US operation that killed bin Laden. The US, meanwhile, has been publicly emollient, resisting suggestion of a deterioration in bilateral relations.
Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, said Pakistan was an “important partner” in the war on terror which had helped put pressure on the leadership of al-Qaeda. She was commenting on doubts about the reliability of Pakistan as an ally after the discovery that bin Laden had been hiding in a military garrison town near the capital.
“It is not always an easy relationship,” Mrs Clinton told a news conference in Rome. “But on the other hand it is a productive one for both our countries.”
News of the US strike came at the same time as reports of information gleaned by Pakistani intelligence officials in interrogations of the people who lived in Bin Laden’s compound.
Some members of Bin Laden’s family had lived in the Abbottabad compound for six years. Pakistani intelligence officials described the al-Qaeda leader as cash-strapped and living a modest life surrounded by women and children.
Pakistani authorities are braced for revenge attacks following bin Laden’s killing. On Friday, gunmen opened fire on members of the minority Shia community visiting a cemetery in Quetta, in south western Pakistan, in a suspected militant attack.
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