No US guarantees of ending strikes, says Gilani

ISLAMABAD: The dismayed Prime Minister of Pakistan said he has received no guarantees that the US strikes in Pakistani tribal areas would end anytime soon.
Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, the prime minister warned that next U.S. president must halt missile strikes on insurgent targets in Pakistan tribal areas or risk failure in its efforts to end militancy in the country.
Yousuf Raza Gilani said visiting U.S. Gen. David Petraeus "looked convinced" when he warned him the strikes were inflaming anti-American sentiment but that he got no guarantee the attacks would end.
Gilani's remarks in an interview with US news agency underscore how shaping a policy to deal with the militant threat in nuclear-armed Pakistan and its new civilian leaders will be a key task for the next U.S. President.
They also revealed the rising strain the missile strikes have placed on relations between the two nations seven years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks forced them into an uneasy alliance.
"No matter who the president of America will be, if he doesn't respect the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan ... anti-America sentiments and anti-West sentiment will be there," said Gilani in his heavily guarded residence atop a hill in the capital, Islamabad.
In last two months, the U.S. has launched at least 17 strikes on militant targets on Pakistan's, what the agency termed, lawless side of the Afghan border.
The strikes - and a highly unusual ground attack by U.S. forces in September - have killed at least 168 people, including some top extremists but also many civilians, according to Pakistani officials.
The prime minister said the attacks, which have occurred in semiautonomous tribal regions, were "uniting the militants with the tribes. How can you fight a war without the support of the people?" he said.
He said the U.S. should cooperate with his country's military, sharing intelligence, to allow Pakistan to go after the targets itself.
"Either they should trust us and they should work with us, otherwise, I think it's a futile exercise," he said.
He also said the missile strikes served as a distraction to Pakistan's own military operations against insurgents in its border regions. The army is currently in the midst of two major anti-insurgent operations in the northwest.
"Their strategy is not coinciding with our strategy," Gilani said. "Our strategy is to take one area at one time."