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Drone Strike Kills Suspected Militant, Pakistani Official Says Dispute Over Drones Strains U.S. Ties With Afghanistan and Pakistan
(about 9 hours later)
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Missiles believed to have been fired overnight by an American drone killed a suspected militant in northwestern Pakistan, a Pakistani intelligence official said on Friday. The incident drew strong criticism from a Pakistani opposition political party that is campaigning against the use of drones by the United States inside Pakistani territory. KABUL, Afghanistan — Two separate but similarly bitter disagreements over drone strikes in Pakistan and Afghanistan have complicated relations between the United States and those two countries at a delicate moment, again highlighting the political complications from America’s persistent reliance on the lethal remote-controlled weapons.
The strike targeted a house in Qazi Kot village in North Waziristan, a tribal region that has long provided a safe haven to Taliban and Al Qaeda militants. The militant was not immediately identified by name but the intelligence official said he had been a Pakistani citizen from Punjab Province. In Afghanistan, the American military commander called President Hamid Karzai late Thursday to apologize for a drone strike that resulted in civilian casualties and gave Mr. Karzai renewed reason to refuse to sign a long-term security agreement with the United States.
Drone strikes, which are seen here as a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty, have become increasingly contentious, with strong criticism by an opposition politician, Imran Khan. In Pakistan’s tribal belt, meanwhile, what was thought to be C.I.A. drone strike on Friday killed a Pakistani militant days after a major political party, as part of its campaign to end the drone strikes, publicly named a man it said was America’s top spy in the country.
Mr. Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, raised the stakes in its campaign against drone strikes on Wednesday when it accused the Central Intelligence Agency and a man it identified as the C.I.A. station chief in Islamabad of murder. The use of these weapons, which is deeply resented, highlights the political costs to the United States of the drone campaigns, even as its range of military options in the region has started to narrow with American combat troops leaving Afghanistan.
The accusation was the latest move in Mr. Khan’s attempts to end the strikes, which, he says have jeopardized peace talks with Taliban insurgents. On Nov. 23, Mr. Khan led a big protest rally in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkwa province, which his political party rules. Since then, party workers have attempted to block NATO supplies in the province. The American military already has greatly restricted raids on Afghan homes, amid demands from Mr. Karzai for a complete ban on such operations. The raids, normally carried out by Special Operations forces to apprehend insurgent leaders, are the last routine combat missions of the United States in Afghanistan.
After the latest strike, Mr. Khan’s party officials renewed their criticism. Afghan anger over one such raid last week led Mr. Karzai to insist on a ban, and he has said he will not sign the long-term security agreement with the United States until such operations are definitively over.
That leaves airstrikes, particularly by drones, as one of the last practical military options left to the American-led military coalition in Afghanistan. In Pakistan, where there are no American military ground operations and the C.I.A. controls the drones, that has long been the case.
There, nationalist politicians have long denounced the C.I.A.-led campaign in the tribal belt as a flagrant breach of sovereignty, and are now employing new means to frustrate it.
As part of that effort, the political party of the former cricket star Imran Khan on Wednesday accused the director of the C.I.A. and the man it identified as the agency’s Islamabad station chief of murder.
Mr. Khan says the strikes have jeopardized efforts to start peace talks with Taliban insurgents. On Nov. 23, Mr. Khan led a large protest rally in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, which his party governs. Since then, Mr. Khan’s supporters have tried to block NATO supplies in the province.
After the latest strike, officials of Mr. Khan’s party renewed their criticism.
The “U.S. has nothing but contempt for Pakistan’s leadership,” said Shireen Mazari, the party’s central information secretary, calling the attack a “direct test of the will of the federal government” led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.The “U.S. has nothing but contempt for Pakistan’s leadership,” said Shireen Mazari, the party’s central information secretary, calling the attack a “direct test of the will of the federal government” led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Ms. Mazari also said the timing of the strike signaled “a hostile message to the military leadership” as Lt. Gen. Raheel Sharif, formally takes over as Army chief from Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at a ceremony in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Friday. In his farewell speech, General Kayani expressed confidence in his successor’s leadership and paid tribute to soldiers who died trying to ensure peace in the troubled northwestern province. Friday’s drone strike in Pakistan came at a delicate moment for the army, as leadership was passing from the previous army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, to his successor, Lt. Gen. Raheel Sharif.
“I kept the interest of the country and armed forces above everything in the decisions that I took in the last six years,” General Kayani said, referring to his time as the powerful army chief. At a ceremony in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, General Kayani expressed confidence in his successor and paid tribute to soldiers who had died in operations against the Taliban in the troubled northwest of the country.
“I kept the interest of the country and armed forces above everything in the decisions that I took in the last six years,” General Kayani said, referring to his tenure as army chief.
In Afghanistan, even an apology by the American commander appeared to do little to assuage official anger.
Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the American and NATO commander in Afghanistan, called Mr. Karzai late Thursday to express “deep regrets” about the drone strike in Helmand earlier that day, and promised a joint investigation, a coalition official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The coalition official confirmed that two drone attacks had taken place in Helmand Province on Thursday. The first, in Garmsir district, targeted an insurgent commander traveling on a motorcycle with a missile, but missed him and apparently hit civilians; one child was reported killed and two women were severely wounded. The targeted man fled on foot and was killed by a later drone strike.
In the second attack, in Nawa Barak Sai district nearby, a drone strike killed a single insurgent who had been targeted, causing no civilian casualties, the official said.
But Mr. Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi, disputed the NATO account. He said that in the first instance, American drones fired missiles at the man while he was riding a motorbike but also while he was hiding in a house.
Omar Zwak, the spokesman for the Helmand governor, identified the target of the strike as Mullah Nazar Gul, who he said was a bomb maker. Mr. Zwak said he was killed inside a house.

Rod Nordland reported from Kabul, and Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan.