Pakistan says U.S. failed to explain logic behind drone strike

Pakistan's top foreign affairs adviser, Sartaj Aziz, said on Sunday that senior U.S. officials, who visited Pakistan on Friday, could not explain logic behind the recent drone strike in Balochistan province that killed the Afghan Taliban chief, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.

American security officials and diplomats visited Pakistan amid growing tensions caused by the May 21 drone attack that Pakistan insists also undermined the diplomatic efforts to start the peace talks in Afghanistan.

"The U.S. leaders could not give any reason during talks as to why they killed the Taliban leader. We made it clear to them that the attack has hurt the Afghan peace process," Aziz told Dawn TV in an exclusive interview.

Some U.S. officials had earlier claimed that Mansoor was responsible for the killing of American, foreign and Afghan forces and that he was also opposed to the peace process.

"Although Pakistan has protested strongly against the drone strike, there is no guarantee of further drone attacks," the adviser further said.

"We pushed the American officials that there is a need to show patience as the years of conflict cannot be solved in few months," he opined.

To a question he said Pakistan believes the drone strike might have also been linked to the domestic election politics in the United States.

"We have conveyed to the U.S. officials that use of force cannot solve the Afghan problem as the presence of ISAF's nearly 130,000 troops in Afghanistan for 14 years could not resolve the conflict," he went on to say.

"Taliban also cannot control Afghanistan through fighting but they can continue war to ten years more," he said, adding that all will ultimately opt for the reconciliation process.

He said that there is also differences within the Afghan government over the issue of peace negotiations.

"Afghanistan needs peace and peace cannot be achieved through war," he insisted. He also said it is now a shared responsibility of the quartet on Afghanistan to work for the start of the peace process.

Aziz said Pakistan's influence on the Afghan Taliban has decreased after military operation that forced many of their leaders to leave Pakistan and move to Afghanistan. Endit