US proposal for joint ops in tribal areas nixed

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday rejected a US proposal for joint operations in the tribal areas, DawnNews quoted official sources as saying.
Simultaneously, the top leadership also asked US envoy Richard Holbrooke and Admiral Mike Mullen to shift drone technology and authority to the Pakistan Army.
The officials emphasised the need for trust between their countries to counter the al-Qaeda and the Taliban threat, even as Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi complained Tuesday about American missile strikes on Pakistani soil.
Richard Holbrooke and Mike Mullen were visiting Pakistan on the heels of President Barack Obama's announcement of plans to reinvigorate the war in Afghanistan by sending more troops to the region and boosting aid to Pakistan to help it stave off al-Qaeda and Taliban-led militancy on its soil.
Pakistani leaders say they are happy about getting billions more in assistance, but Obama's insistence that the money won't come without conditions - no 'blank cheque' - has rankled some here and underscored a trust deficit between the two camps.
'We can only work together if we respect each other and trust each other,' Qureshi said during a joint news conference.
It was a sentiment echoed by Mullen, who said he was committed to improving the nations' relationship to the point where there is a 'surplus of trust.'
Pakistan's civilian government points to the deaths of hundreds of Pakistani troops in battling insurgents along the Afghan frontier in questioning the line from Washington. But US officials have complained that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence still has ties to some militant groups, something Pakistan denies.
'Pakistan is committed in eliminating extremism from the society, for which it needs unconditional support by the international community in the fields of education, health, training and provision of equipment for fighting terrorism,' President Asif Ali Zardari said in a statement after meeting the envoys.
Zardari also urged the use of negotiations to resolve some tensions with the militants, something the US is considering.
'Military action is only one aspect of the solution,' the statement said.
Pakistan faces rising terrorist attacks on its soil by militants upset over its cooperation with the United States.
Pakistani citizens have held protests denouncing recent attacks, but there is widespread worry that cooperating with the US in the anti-terrorist fight is what is damaging the nation's security.
Many Pakistanis also are irritated with US missile strikes on militant targets in the northwest, and the government has officially and repeatedly requested they be stopped because they inflame anti-American sentiment.
On that subject, 'let me be very frank. There's a gap between us and them,' Qureshi insisted Tuesday. 'I want to bridge that gap.'
'My view is that they are working to the advantage of the extremists. We agree to disagree on this. We will take it up when we meet again in Washington,' Qureshi told reporters.
Many analysts suspect the two countries have a secret deal allowing the strikes, which American officials say have killed some top militant leaders.
The foreign minister further said that Pakistan has 'red lines' that should not be crossed, but would only specify its objection to any sort of US ground operation on its territory when asked to elaborate.
Asked about whether the US could simply hand over Predator drones to the Pakistanis so they could carry out the strikes, Mullen did not directly answer, but said the Americans were eager to share counter-insurgency techniques and lessons with Pakistan.
Holbrooke said the countries face a common challenge and task.
'We have had a long and complicated history, our two countries,' he said. 'We cannot put the past behind us, but we must learn from it and move forward.'
The envoys' visit also comes just days after Hakimullah Mehsud, a deputy to Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, warned that the group would carry out two suicide bombings per week in Pakistan unless the US stops the missile strikes.