Pakistan Leaders Respond As U.S. Attacks al-Qaida And Taliban Across Border
Back off our border, Bush
Islamabad, Pakistan — Pakistan’s prime minister on Thursday backed a harsh rebuke of the U.S. by his military chief, a sign of a strain in relations seven years after Sept. 11 forged the countries’ anti-terror alliance.
Pakistan’s public show of anger with the U.S. comes amid revelations that President Bush secretly approved new U.S. raids in that country.
U.S. operations against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters along the border are highly unpopular in Pakistan, whose new leadership is trying hard to show independence from Washington.
Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said nearly a week after a deadly American-led ground assault in Pakistani territory that there was no deal to allow foreign forces to operate inside its borders.
He warned that ”the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country will be defended at all cost.”
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said Kayani’s words reflected government opinion and policy.
Kayani’s statement was significant because he so rarely speaks publicly and because he heads Pakistan’s most powerful institution. His remarks indicated he was sensitive to anger among Pakistanis, and possibly even within the military, over the assault.
”It expresses a deep concern in Pakistan and was quite timely because of the feeling in Pakistan as if the army and the government of Pakistan has surrendered to whatever Americans want to do in the tribal regions,” analyst Rasul Bakhsh Rais said.
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