World | Pakistan
Zardari says Obama could carry on strikes
Pakistan expects US President-elect Barack Obama to re-evaluate American military strikes on Al Qaida and Taliban targets on its side of the Afghan border, the president said on Monday.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:11 November 11, 2008
Islamabad: Pakistan expects US President-elect Barack Obama to re-evaluate American military strikes on Al Qaida and Taliban targets on its side of the Afghan border, the president said on Monday.
Asif Ali Zardari warned the surge in missile attacks since August was hurting Pakistan's own fight against the militants - a campaign he said was succeeding nonetheless.
Zardari sat in front of two photos of his late wife, Benazir Bhutto, a US allied moderate Muslim leader who was killed by suspected Al Qaida militants in December 2007 as she campaigned for parliamentary elections.
Zardari took over Benazir's political party after her death and was elected president in August, facing soaring violence by militants also blamed for attacks on US and Nato forces in Afghanistan and a crushing economic crisis.
Under pressure
The 52-year-old is under intense American pressure to take firmer action against militants in the rugged and lawless northwest border zone, a possible hiding place for Osama Bin Laden and what many consider to be the global front line in the fight against Al Qaida.
In what is seen as a sign of American frustration with Islamabad, the US military is believed to have carried out at least 18 missile attacks on suspected militant targets close to the border since August.
The missiles were believed fired from unmanned planes launched in Afghanistan, where some 32,000 US troops are fighting a resurgent Taliban insurgency.
Zardari said Obama would re-examine that strategy, but acknowledged the Democrat - who struck a hawkish tone during the election - may continue the attacks.
"I think there is definitively going to be a new look at all the issues that have been on the table of the United States and this is one of the large issues," said Zardari.
The attacks have killed some militants, but many of the dead have been civilians, including women and children, stoking anger among locals, Pakistani officials say.
"We feel that the strikes are an intrusion on our sovereignty which are not appreciated by the people at large, and the first aspect of this war is to win the hearts and minds of the people," Zardari said.
Washington rarely comments on the strikes, but US military Gen David Petraeus said last week the recent attacks had killed three top extremist leaders.
Pakistan insists it is taking on the militants, pointing to a military offensive in the Bajur tribal district that began in August and has killed 1,500 suspected insurgents.
"I think from where it was when we took over, we are in a much better place," said Zardari. "We used the force of the government and they (the militants) realised that there is a force here, that the people of Pakistan are to be reckoned with."
Zardari also inherited an economy battered by high inflation, a plunging currency and desperately short of foreign currency reserves needed to avoid defaulting on some $5 billion (Dh18.35 billion) of sovereign debt due for repayment next year.
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