Sunday, November 3, 2013

Pakistan To Assess U.S. Ties After Drone Strike Kills Taliban Leader



Angry Pakistan To Assess U.S. Ties After Killing Of Militant Disrupts Talks -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Pakistan is to review its relationship with the United States, the prime minister's office said on Sunday, following the killing of the Pakistani Taliban leader in a U.S. drone strike.

But a top-level meeting to examine relations, scheduled for Sunday, was postponed at the last minute without explanation.

Mehsud, who had a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, was killed on Friday in the northwestern Pakistani militant stronghold of North Waziristan, near the Afghan border.

The Pakistani Taliban have killed thousands of Pakistani civilians and members of the security forces in their bid to impose Islamist rule, but the new government has been calling for peace talks.

The government denounced Mehsud's killing as a U.S. bid to derail the talks and summoned the U.S. ambassador on Saturday to complain.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office had said he would chair a meeting on the consequences for ties with Washington. There was no indication when it might now take place.

Read more ....

Update: Pakistan slams US for killing Taliban leader -- AP

My Comment: Pakistani politics are on full display here .... but also U.S. pressure on Pakistan to not make peace with militant groups that would only free them up to attack Afghanistan.

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