Pakistan leader meets with Rice on strikes

[unhappycamper]

Pakistan leader meets with Rice on strikes
By John Heilprin - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Nov 13, 2008 8:50:03 EST

UNITED NATIONS — Pakistan’s president pressed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Wednesday to halt cross-border U.S. missile strikes targeting militants in his country’s volatile tribal regions, the Pakistani foreign minister said.

“These drone attacks are unproductive, and they are contributing to alienation as opposed to winning people over,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in an interview after briefing reporters on the 20-minute meeting between Rice and President Asif Ali Zardari.

The U.S. military is believed to have carried out at least 18 missile attacks on suspected militant targets close to the border in Pakistan since August. The missiles are believed to be fired from unmanned planes launched in Afghanistan, where some 32,000 U.S. troops are fighting a resurgent Taliban insurgency.

The strikes also should be halted to avoid the inadvertent deaths of civilians, Qureshi said. “In fact, what is required is more sharing of intelligence information. What is required is building Pakistan’s capacity to deal with insurgency,” he said.

State Department officials declined to comment on the meeting.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_ricepakistan_111308/%2e