WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: A senior US official told Reuters on Friday that Washington would not send ground troops into Pakistan to attack militant positions in North Waziristan.
"There will be no boots on the ground," the official said. "That has been communicated to them (the Pakistanis)."
| Personally I'd tape the note to a Hellfire being fired at a senior member of the ISI, but I'm not the most diplomatic of Rantburg moderators... |
Pakistan and the United States have engaged in a diplomatic fusillade over the last week after outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said a Taleban faction was a "veritable arm" of the Pakistani spy agency. Mullen's charges has added to anti-American sentiment in a country where a poll in June showed that almost two-thirds of the population considered the US an enemy.
"The prevailing view in Pakistan is that because of our alignment with the United States, our problems have increased," said Talat Masood, a retired general and analyst.
"America's view is the opposite: 'Because you are not aligning yourself with us, your problems are increasing.'" "This," he said, "is the whole dilemma at the moment."
In Hyderabad, about 900 people from a group whose militant arm has been accused of killing thousands of people, burned an effigy of US President Barack Obama and chanted "America is a murderer."
In Lahore, at least 800 people protested at the headquarters of the Jamaat Islami (JI). "Go, America, Go!" rose from the angry crowd.
Another protest in Peshawar drew around 200 people. They chanted "America's Graveyard -- Waziristan, Waziristan", referring to the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, a US missile strike killed three suspected militants in a tribal region near the Afghan border on Friday, a reminder of the weapons at American disposal at a time of intense strain with Islamabad, two Pakistan officials said. |