Islamabad: Amid differences between
Islamabad and Washington over increasing drone attacks in the
tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, top American lawmakers
on Friday underlined that the US will continue with the strategy
to protect Americans from attacks by terrorists based in
Pakistan.
Senator John McCain, the leader of an American
Congressional delegation, acknowledged there are differences
between Pakistan and the US over the drone attacks, which are
"one of many tools that we must use to try to defeat a very
determined and terrible enemy".
The US is continuing discussions with Pakistan on the
issue and intends to do everything possible to ensure that no
innocent persons are injured in drone attacks.
There has been "dramatic improvement" in the
decision-making process for the attacks and the US will
continue "to try to find common ground" with Pakistan, McCain
told a news conference.
He, however, made it clear that the US has "to do
everything we can, that we feel is necessary to protect
Americans from the attacks of terrorists who may be based here
and operate out of Pakistan".
Senator Joe Lieberman, Chairman of the Homeland
Security Committee and a member of the visiting delegation,
said there is "a disagreement" between Pakistan and the US on
the drone strike "but we’re going to continue to talk about
it".
McCain, a former US presidential contender, said there
are elements "operating in Pakistan, that if allowed to do so,
would go to Afghanistan and kill Americans and destroy that
government and re-establish Afghanistan as a base for attacks
on the US and our allies...And every intelligence agency in
the world will also tell you that that’s the case.”
The US has to take steps to prevent such attacks and
many times that is to go to the source of where those attacks
are being planned and orchestrated?, he said.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani expressed Pakistan’s opposition to the drone
attacks during their meeting with the US delegation and urged
Washington to transfer drone technology to Islamabad so that
the Pakistani military could carry out such strikes.
Lieberman claimed government-to-government and
military-to-military relations between the two sides has
"never been better" as they are united by "a common enemy".
Ties between the US and Pakistan have been strained
by several issues over the past few months, including
Washington?s call for action against militant groups like the
Haqqani network that are viewed as "assets" by the Pakistani
military set-up.
The US yesterday complained about what it described as
the "harassment" of its diplomats by Pakistani security
agencies.
McCain described the delegation?s meeting yesterday
with Zardari as "very good" though the two sides were "not in
agreement on every issue".
"But we certainly are in agreement on a common goal
and we also face a common enemy? The enemy of radical Islamic
extremism that wants to destroy everything that we stand for
and believe in, in free and democratic societies," he said.
McCain said the harassment of US diplomats was "a
point of friction".
"We’d like to see it resolved," he added.
"We’d like to see the visas granted that are necessary
for our embassy to do our job, including carrying out and
implementing the aid programmes that are part of recent
legislation that provides aid and assistance to the Pakistani
government and people," the US Republican leader said.
PTI
