Pakistan fighting for survival, says President Zardari

President Asif Ali Zardari told Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, that the country needed unwavering foreign support in the battle against al-Qaeda and the Taliban."Pakistan needs unconditional support by the international community in the fields of education, health, training and provision of equipment for fighting terrorism," he said. "Pakistan is fighting a battle of its own survival.Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the foreign minister, said US drone attacks were damaging trust between the two allies. "We can only work together if we respect each other. There is no other way," he said.Mr Holbrooke met senior ministers and military chiefs in Islamabad to flesh out details of deeper US involvement in counter-terrorism operations in Pakistan. It was his first visit since Mr Obama unveiled his strategy to peel away "reconcilable" elements of the Taliban from hard-core leaders.The new approach couples large increases in aid – $1 billion over the next five years – with strict conditions on Pakistan's armed forces who will be expected to demonstrate a commitment to fighting the insurgents.US officials hinted that cross-border drone attacks had intensified. Another 13 militants were killed in a strike in Taliban-dominated North Waziristan on Saturday. The apparent increase brought a furious response from Baitullah Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban leader. He said he would carry out two attacks per week until the drone strikes stopped.
Meanwhile, Col David Kilcullen, a leading architect of the "surge" that revitalised the American campaign in Iraq, told the New York Times that Pakistan was just six months from a descent into chaos.He has criticised the use of unmanned drones in violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. "The current approach is having a severely destabilising effect on Pakistan and risks spreading the conflict further, or even prompting the collapse of the Pakistani state," he told a US Congressional hearing.
Mr Holbrooke conceded there was a "gap" between the US and Pakistan over the use of drones. "Let me be very frank," he said. "There is a gap between us and them, and I want to bridge that gap, and we'll continue to talk about it."