. | . |
Pakistan complains of 'alienation' from US drone strikes Prague (AFP) March 13, 2009 Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi complained of "alienation" resulting from US drone strikes on his country on Friday, a day after a suspected US strike killed 24 people there. "There is collateral damage that accompanies these attacks, and it leads to alienation," he said after meeting European Union officials in Prague. "If we want a success in this fight against extremism and terrorism, we have to carry the people along," added Qureshi, whose country is a key regional ally of the US. Qureshi praised unmanned drones whose missiles destroyed a Taliban training camp in northwest Pakistan on Thursday as "superior technology" that can "take out high-value targets," but he also warned the US to weigh the pros and cons of its tactics. "The US government should weigh the advantages with the disadvantages. If these disadvantages outweigh the advantages, we feel there is a case to review the strategy," Qureshi said. The US military as a rule does not confirm drone attacks but the armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy drones in the region. More than 30 such strikes have killed over 330 people since August 2008, shortly before key Washington ally President Asif Ali Zardari was elected. Thursday's attack was the fifth missile strike blamed on unmanned US aircraft since President Barack Obama came to power, dashing Pakistani hopes that the new administration would abandon the policy. Qureshi said in Prague that Pakistan would discuss this issue with the new US administration "perhaps next month," without elaborating. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links UAV News - Suppliers and Technology
USAF MQ-1 Predators Achieve 500,000 Flight Hours San Diego CA (SPX) Mar 06, 2009 General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has announced that MQ-1 Predator aircraft delivered to the U.S. Air Force (USAF) have surpassed the 500,000 flight hour milestone, with 87 percent of those hours being flown in combat. The milestone was achieved by P-143 on February 16 while it performed an armed reconnaissance mission in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). |
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |