Cold Shoulder: This is the closest Pakistan President Asif
Ali Zardari got to President Obama at the
NATO Summit
in Chicago. It was at the end of a
meeting with the Afghan
president, HamidKarzia, May 21.
Zardari was Right: U.S. Should Apologize, End
Drone Strikes and Go: The Nation, Pakistan
“Not only an
apology and a halt to the use of drones must be forthcoming, but Islamabad must
be reimbursed by the Coalition Support Fund. … U.S. and NATO forces should go
home without waiting another moment. … Mr. Obama should pay heed to the
protestors who want their U.S. sons and daughters home rather than fighting an unbeatable
enemy far from their land.”
Pakistanis set alight the flags of NATO and the United States in Multan, Pakistan. The level of anger toward the United States in the country has ranged between irritation to complete rage. At the moment, the scales are definitely tipped toward the complete rage range of the spectrum.
President Asif Ali Zardari, who met President Barack Obama and addressed the NATO
summit on Afghanistan in Chicago on Monday, took the right stand when he sought
to press the strong opposition of his people and government to drone strikes in
Pakistan.
He told the U.S. leader and summiteers that drones markedly
boost militancy, which rather than losing steam is skyrocketing. He also stood firm
on the legal argument against violating our sovereignty and reiterated demands
that the United States apologize for the deaths of 24
Pakistani soldiers during NATO’s helicopter attack on a checkpost
in Salala last November. The action so enraged the
nation that the government was compelled to block NATO’s supply route through Pakistan
for troops in Afghanistan.
The world must appreciate that while it is of critical importance
to the U.S. and NATO that the land route to Afghanistan for troop operations
and evacuation be reopened, the concerns of Pakistan on this matter cannot be
dismissed out of hand. That is why not only an apology and a halt to the use of
drones must be forthcoming, but Islamabad must be reimbursed by the Coalition Support
Fund. These are monies that have been blocked by the United States.
Posted by Worldmeets.US
President Zardari also raised the devastating
effect that the war on terror has had on our economy, which stands on the brink
of collapse. The cost of the war far is estimated at $70 billion. For a
developing country like Pakistan this is not small change. It is the
responsibility of those fighting terrorism, particularly in Afghanistan, to
accept Zardari’s demand that they provide greater
access for our products on their markets so that our economy might be revived.
The setbacks that the greatest military might on earth has
suffered should bring it to pack its things, lock, stock and barrel. Rather
than finding covert ways of keeping its troops planted after the promised date
of withdrawal at the end-2014, U.S. and NATO forces should go home without waiting
another moment.
Mr. Obama should pay heed to the protestors who want their
U.S. sons and daughters home rather than fighting an unbeatable enemy far from
their land. France, one of America’s key allies has elected a new president who
announced that its troops would be home by the end of the year.
The United States must understand that there will be no peace
in Afghanistan or the region unless the Afghans themselves agree to one. A
foreign-imposed settlement would never work. Pakistan has always advocated an
Afghan-led, Afghan-sponsored solution. Countries like Pakistan, Turkey and Iran
can lend a hand in achieving this goal. Given the crucial stake these nations
have in peace for Afghanistan and the region, their credibility is hard to
question.
