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Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari says non-UN-sanctioned US drone strikes in his country are severely harming Pakistan-US ties, insisting that the drone bombings undermine anti-terror efforts.
Zardari made the remarks on Tuesday in a meeting with US Ambassador Cameron Munter in Islamabad, a day before a visit to the country by Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullin, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Mullin will visit Islamabad on Wednesday for talks with Pakistani leaders amid a series of diplomatic rows, including a conflict over the scale of unauthorized CIA drone operations in Pakistan.
The Pakistani president said the nation had been paying a heavy price in the war against terrorism both in terms of human and material losses.
Pakistan has repeatedly criticized the attacks as violations of the country's sovereignty.
Washington, on the other hand, defends the strikes as necessary to fight the militants it claims to have holed up.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday that Washington should better share its intelligence with Islamabad so that Pakistanis can take action against militants on their own.
US drone attacks have killed scores of people so far this year. Last year alone, some 1,200 Pakistanis lost their lives in over 100 such strikes, reports say.
The strikes have further fueled the anti-US sentiment already on the rise in the region.
A high-level panel of lawmakers in Pakistan has demanded the cutting off of NATO's supply lines for the US-led forces in the neighboring Afghanistan through its borders .
During an important parliamentary meeting, the Pakistani MPs called for the government to pressure the US to stop the indiscriminate US drone attacks.
The lawmakers also urged the government to take more actions, such as suspending the supply to NATO forces, on these unauthorized strikes on Pakistan's tribal belt, a Press TV correspondent reported.
After the meeting, the committee chairman senator Raza Rabbani told the reporters that, “We have principled stance on drone attacks that they are adding to our difficulties.”
“Government should take steps to stop these attacks and we will extend full support to it,” he added.
Meanwhile, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said that the non-UN-sanctioned drone strikes are severely harming Pak-US ties, stressing that these attacks undermine anti-terror efforts.
Zardari made the remarks on Tuesday during a meeting in Islamabad with US Ambassador Cameron Munter.
The Pakistani president said the nation had been paying a heavy price in the war against terrorism both in terms of human and material losses.
Pakistan has repeatedly condemned the attacks for violating the country's sovereignty. Washington, on the other hand, defends the strikes, saying they are necessary for fighting the militants who have holed up.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday that Washington should share better intelligence so that Islamabad could take tougher actions against the militants itself.
US drone attacks have killed scores of people so far this year. Last year alone some 1,200 Pakistanis lost their lives in over 100 such strikes, reports say.
The strikes have further fueled the anti-US sentiment already on the rise in the region.
The death toll of the US-led troops in Afghanistan nears two thousand
Taliban-linked militants have attacked US-led forces in eastern Afghanistan, killing and wounding ten foreign troops in the war-torn country.
The militant attack took place on Wednesday when a car bomber hit US-led forces' a convoy in Bati Kot district in the east of Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Taliban spokesman has claimed responsibility for the attack. NATO has yet to confirm the attack.
The Taliban are stepping up their attacks on foreign forces across war-ravaged Afghanistan.
Over 1,400 American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of the Asian country began in 2001, according to a recent report by the Associated Press.
In 2010, as many as 711 foreign troops lost their lives in Afghanistan -- an average of two a day -- which is by far greater than the previous record annual toll of 521, marked in 2009.
Despite the presence of about 150,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, insecurity is on the rise across the country since the US-led war began there in 2001.
A Britain soldier wounded by a bomb in Afghanistan has died in a hospital in England, bringing to 364 the number of UK troops killed in war-torn Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.
According to Britain's military, the soldier hurt Monday clearing roadside bombs in Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand Province, Associated Press reported.
As casualties have risen in Afghanistan over the past few months, public opinion has begun turning against the war in the United States and other countries.
In 2010, as many as 711 foreign troops lost their lives in Afghanistan -- an average of two a day -- which is by far greater than the previous record annual toll of 521, marked in 2009.
Despite the presence of about 150,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, insecurity is on the rise across the country since the US-led war began there in 2001.
A serviceman with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has lost his life and two others sustained injuries in a bomb attack in northern Afghanistan.
A Swedish soldier was killed and two other Swedish troops were wounded on Saturday when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb after it was called to support troops who had come under fire about 40 kilometers (29 miles) west of Mazar-i-Sharif, Swedish army spokesman Torbjorn Gustafsson said.
The two other soldiers' injuries are not life-threatening, Gustafsson added.
The latest incident death brings the death toll for Swedish soldiers based in Afghanistan to 5. Sweden currently has about 530 troops in the Central Asian country.
In addition, 45 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan this month.
A total of 591 foreign soldiers have been killed in the Afghan war so far this year, eclipsing the previous record of 521 in 2009.
The US military has lost 1,341 soldiers in Afghanistan since the war began in October 2001.
As casualties have risen in Afghanistan over the past few months, public opinion has begun turning against the war in the United States and other countries.
Also, hundreds of civilians have lost their lives in US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months, with Afghans becoming more and more outraged over the seemingly endless number of deadly assaults.
And this situation is adding fuel to the fire of anti-US sentiment in Afghanistan and the rest of the Islamic world.
PRESSTV NEWS DETAIL
France and Italy are joining Britain in sending military officers to Libya to help advise rebels on technical, logistical and organisational issues.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, offered assistance to Abdel Jalil, the leader of the Libyan Transitional National Council, when they met in Paris on Wednesday.
"We are going to help you," Sarkozy told him.
Keep up with all the latest developments here
Jalil said he invited Sarkozy to visit Benghazi, the rebel stronghold in Libya's east.
"I think that would be very important for the revolution's morale," Jalil said after the meeting.
Sarkozy's office said it had "taken note" of the invitation.
A French foreign ministry spokesperson said a small number of liaison officers would be sent out to Benghazi along with a special envoy, while Italy said it was ready to send around 10 officers - "the same number of military staff as Britain".
Ignazio La Russa, Italy's defence minister, said that stronger intervention under the UN resolution, which does not permit ground troops, may be needed in Libya.
William Hague, Britain's foreign minister, announced on Tuesday that it would be sending a team to Libya to help rebels with "military organisational structures, communications and logistics, including how best to distribute humanitarian aid and deliver medical assistance".
He insisted that the decision was "fully within the terms" of the UN Security Council resolution that authorised a no-fly zone over the north African nation, and that the team would not train or arm rebel forces.
'Impossible mission'
But Khaled Kaim, Libya's deputy foreign minister, said the attempt would be futile.
"This is an impossible mission. To organise who? They [the rebels] are different groups. There is no leader. They are not well-organised, and I am sure it will be a failure," he said.
Francois Baroin, a French government spokesman, said Sarkozy's administration was "not envisaging troops on the ground, in any shape or form" and that France was not seeking new UN Security Council action that would give the allies a broader mandate to intervene in Libya.
"We are not taking the initiative to seek a new Security Council resolution. The French position is stable and unchanged on this problem of applying Resolution 1973," he said.
That resolution permitted the use of force to protect Libyan civilians, but explicitly forbade a "foreign occupation force" - a phrase which some states interpret as banning any ground intervention at all.
However, Sarkozy promised Jalil that France would intensify air strikes on the army of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's leader, but did not elaborate.
"We are indeed going to intensify the attacks and respond to this request from the national transition council," the Elysee Palace said in a statement
Forces fighting Gaddafi have urged the West to ramp up its military campaign to try and break a deadlock in the conflict and halt attacks on the besieged city of Misrata, where hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks.
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