Drones Impede Pakistan’s Role In Afghan Peace : Nawaz Sharif

Islamabad, June 1, IRNA – Pakistan’s Prime minister in-waiting Nawaz Sharif said that a solution to the controversial drone campaign in tribal areas must be sought to win Pakistan’s support in the Afghan exit strategy, a media report said on Friday. ‘Express Tribune’ reported that Nawaz made the remarks in a meeting with the new US special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan James Dobbins. Pakistan Muslim League-N president said that a cessation of drone attacks was crucial for such diplomatic and strategic cooperation. Dobbins is the first senior high-ranking American official to visit Pakistan following the May 11 elections that won the PML-N a majority in the National Assembly. During his election campaign, Nawaz Sharif had voiced concerns over the CIA-led drone campaign and said he would raise the issue with the Obama Administration. The meeting came just a day after a US drone strike killed TTP second in command Waliur Rehman in the North Waziristan Agency (NWA). The attack was the first since the May 11 elections followed soon after the new policy guidelines approved by US President Barrack Obama promising stricter targeting guidelines for the use of drones. Sources say Nawaz Sharif informed Dobbins that Pakistan would facilitate US-led foreign forces to withdraw from neighboring Afghanistan. But he cautioned that the policy of carrying out unilateral strikes in the tribal areas could make it difficult for his government to win necessary support for the Afghan endgame. Nawaz also said Pakistan would support an ‘Afghan-led and Afghan-owned’ peace process. “We have no favorites in Afghanistan and our policy will be to allow Afghans to decide their future themselves,” a party official quoted the PML-N leader as telling the US envoy. The US Special Representative also met Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani. Moreover, Dobbins spoke to President Asif Ali Zardari via telephone, according to a statement by the US Embassy./end