PressTV – 2011-04-22 02:34:39
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/175868.html
US-led Airstrike Kills Afghan Women, Child
PressTV
(April 21, 2011) — A US-led airstrike in eastern Afghanistan has killed three civilians, including two women and a child, amid a growing public discontent over such attacks. A provincial governor said they died in a missile strike in the Dangam district of Kunar Province late Tuesday. He added that 14 militants have also been killed in the bombing.
NATO has confirmed that its troops had carried out air and ground operations in Dangam. The International Security Assistance Force has also confirmed the deaths of the two women during the US-led military operations.
Scores of Afghan civilians have so far lost their lives in US-led military operations. Civilian casualties by US-led foreign forces have been a major source of friction between Kabul and Washington. Hundreds of civilians have lost their lives in the US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months, with Afghans growing frustrated over the seemingly endless number of deadly assaults.
Afghan authorities have repeatedly warned NATO forces to avoid killing civilians during military operations. The attacks have left a large number of Afghan civilians dead since the start of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The war in Afghanistan, with civilian and military casualties at record highs, has become the longest war in US history.
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US Drone Strike Kills 25 in Pakistan
(April 22, 2011) — At least 25 people have been killed in yet another unauthorized US drone attack on the tribal village of Miranshah in northwestern Pakistan. Officials reported that the non-UN-sanctioned attack by a US drone took place at 4:30 a.m. (2030 GMT) Friday, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The drone fired six missiles at a house destroying it completely. The death toll may rise as rescue operation is underway to get people from the collapsed building. The US drone continued flying over the area after the attack, creating panic among the local residents. Miranshah attack raised the number of US drone strikes in North Waziristan Agency to 21 in 2011.
Reports indicate that the unmanned drone strikes in Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt have claimed the lives of more than 1,180 people in 2010 alone. Washington has at times claimed it has an agreement with Islamabad on launching such attacks, but Pakistani authorities say there has never been such a deal and that they view the airstrikes as repeated violations of the country’s sovereignty.
Moreover, Pakistani lawmakers have strongly criticized the US drone strikes and urged the government “to review its foreign policy and adopt a strict stance to stop CIA attacks inside Pakistan.”
Khawaja Saad Rafiq, the leader of major Pakistani party Muslim League Nawaz, has blamed the hike in the acts of terrorism in Pakistan on the ongoing CIA drone attacks. The CIA’s unauthorized drone strikes in Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt claimed the lives of more than 1,180 people in 2010 alone, reports say.
US: Strikes on Pakistan to Continue
PressTV
The United States says it will not halt its drone attacks in Pakistan, defying repeated calls from Islamabad and Pakistani people for an end to the non-UN-sanctioned strikes.
“The program is something that we have said we go ahead on. The question is how. And that process is going to be something that’s going to be one of the main tasks that our intelligence and our military guys have,” Reuters quoted a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying on Wednesday.
This comes as the chairman of the US military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, has met with Pakistan’s high-ranking intelligence officials in Lahore. The US had previously insisted on its stance about continuing the drone attacks in a meeting between CIA director Leon Panetta and Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Agency in Washington last week.
Washington has at times claimed it has an agreement with Islamabad on launching such attacks, but Pakistani authorities say there has never been such a deal and that they view the airstrikes as repeated violations of the country’s sovereignty. Moreover, Pakistani lawmakers have strongly criticized the US drone strikes and urged the government “to review its foreign policy and adopt a strict stance to stop CIA attacks inside Pakistan.â€
Khawaja Saad Rafiq, the leader of major Pakistani party Muslim League Nawaz, has blamed the hike in the acts of terrorism in Pakistan on the ongoing CIA drone attacks. The CIA’s unauthorized drone strikes in Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt claimed the lives of more than 1,180 people in 2010 alone, reports say.
Pakistani MPs Urge NATO Supply Cutoff
PressTV
ISLAMABAD (April 20, 2011) — A high-level panel of lawmakers in Pakistan has demanded the cutting off of NATO’s supply lines for the US-led forces in the neighboring Afghanistan through its borders.
During an important parliamentary meeting, the Pakistani MPs called for the government to pressure the US to stop the indiscriminate US drone attacks. The lawmakers also urged the government to take more actions, such as suspending the supply to NATO forces, on these unauthorized strikes on Pakistan’s tribal belt, a Press TV correspondent reported.
After the meeting, the committee chairman senator Raza Rabbani told the reporters that, “We have principled stance on drone attacks that they are adding to our difficulties. Government should take steps to stop these attacks and we will extend full support to it,” he added.
Meanwhile, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said that the non-UN-sanctioned drone strikes are severely harming Pak-US ties, stressing that these attacks undermine anti-terror efforts.
Zardari made the remarks on Tuesday during a meeting in Islamabad with US Ambassador Cameron Munter. The Pakistani president said the nation had been paying a heavy price in the war against terrorism both in terms of human and material losses.
Pakistan has repeatedly condemned the attacks for violating the country’s sovereignty. Washington, on the other hand, defends the strikes, saying they are necessary for fighting the militants who have holed up.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday that Washington should share better intelligence so that Islamabad could take tougher actions against the militants itself.
US drone attacks have killed scores of people so far this year. Last year alone some 1,200 Pakistanis lost their lives in over 100 such strikes, reports say. The strikes have further fueled the anti-US sentiment already on the rise in the region.
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