Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed his opposition with the US drone strike in Pakistan and endorsed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s stance for halting drone attacks in Pakistan.
The newly elected Pakistani prime minister has called for an immediate end to US strikes, and called it a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and causes civilian casualties. However US officials insist that the main target of the drone strikes are militants.
In the meantime president Karzai was quoted by Khaama Press as saying, “I am not in favour of drone attacks in Pakistan, I am against it and I endorse Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s stand on this. I will stand with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif against drone attacks, just as I have stood against American military operations in Afghanistan where civilians were killed, where civilians were wounded, where civilian homes were destroyed, I fully will stand with Pakistan against any activity by any foreign power that causes civilian casualties in Pakistan.”
US drone strikes in Pakistan is considered to be one main controversial issue between Washington and Islamabad. The government of Pakistan recently summoned US Charge d’affaires in Islamabad to protest against the US drone attack in north-west Pakistan which killed at least people.
The comments by President Hamid Karzai comes amid growing pressure and calls by the Afghan government on international community to target militants strongholds located outside Afghanistan.
According to intelligence officials majority of attacks in Afghanistan is plotted in Waziristan tribal region, and US drones carry precision attacks on militant hideouts in the region.
A senior Pakistani Taliban commander Wali-ur-Rahman was recently killed during a US drone attack. Agencies
