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US maintains pressure on Pakistan to maintain counterinsurgency campaign
Farhan Bokhari JDW Correspondent - Islamabad
The Bush administration has urged leaders of Pakistan's new ruling coalition to continue backing a military push against hardline Islamic militants instead of following a more conciliatory route through fresh negotiations.
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte delivered the message to Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), in separate meetings in Islamabad on 25 March, which coincided with the appointment of new Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
Leaders of the PPP and the PML-N who were close to the discussions told Jane's that the US delegation was concerned by the intentions of newly elected politicians to negotiate with militants in the border region with Afghanistan rather than pursue military action.
In 2007 Pakistan was strongly criticised by Western officials when it pushed ahead with a controversial peace agreement with militants in Waziristan. That agreement effectively collapsed when militants resumed attacks on Pakistani troops.
"If America wants to see itself clean of terrorism, we also want that our villages and towns should not be bombed," said Sharif after the meeting in reference to at least three attacks in Pakistan's border region carried out by US unmanned aerial vehicles earlier in 2008. "It is unacceptable that while giving peace to the world we make our own country a killing field."
Western diplomats said that Sharif's remarks showed the potential for a confrontation between the US and Pakistan's newly elected leaders. They also raised the possibility of the Pakistani military having to assert itself more rather than rely on US support.
One diplomat who spoke to Jane's said: "Sharif's remarks tell us something about a wider problem. The US would like to continue with the military push through the drones as well as attacks on militants by the Pakistani military. The US really doesn't want this military push to be abandoned."
Farhan Bokhari JDW Correspondent - Islamabad
The Bush administration has urged leaders of Pakistan's new ruling coalition to continue backing a military push against hardline Islamic militants instead of following a more conciliatory route through fresh negotiations.
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte delivered the message to Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), in separate meetings in Islamabad on 25 March, which coincided with the appointment of new Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
Leaders of the PPP and the PML-N who were close to the discussions told Jane's that the US delegation was concerned by the intentions of newly elected politicians to negotiate with militants in the border region with Afghanistan rather than pursue military action.
In 2007 Pakistan was strongly criticised by Western officials when it pushed ahead with a controversial peace agreement with militants in Waziristan. That agreement effectively collapsed when militants resumed attacks on Pakistani troops.
"If America wants to see itself clean of terrorism, we also want that our villages and towns should not be bombed," said Sharif after the meeting in reference to at least three attacks in Pakistan's border region carried out by US unmanned aerial vehicles earlier in 2008. "It is unacceptable that while giving peace to the world we make our own country a killing field."
Western diplomats said that Sharif's remarks showed the potential for a confrontation between the US and Pakistan's newly elected leaders. They also raised the possibility of the Pakistani military having to assert itself more rather than rely on US support.
One diplomat who spoke to Jane's said: "Sharif's remarks tell us something about a wider problem. The US would like to continue with the military push through the drones as well as attacks on militants by the Pakistani military. The US really doesn't want this military push to be abandoned."
