Pak ISI chief's pressure on U.S. to end drone strikes likely to 'come a cropper'

Islamabad, July 31 (ANI): Though the meeting between Pakistan and the United States to be held in Washington this week, is meant to ease the tension between the two allies, Pakistani and Western officials have warned that the issue of drone strikes may yield little common ground.

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence ( ISI) chief Lt. Gen. Zaheer-ul Islam will press and CIA chief David Petraeus, at the top-level intelligence summit, to end unilateral drone strikes aimed at eliminating militants along the Afghan-Pakistan border.

The U.S., however, is unlikely to agree to stop using the drones, which have become a potent weapon in targeting militants in Pakistan, reports the CBS News.

The intelligence official says they are "in callous disregard of the reality. Many victims in these drone strikes have been innocent children and women. The Americans must appreciate the degree to which drones have made the U.S. deeply unpopular in Pakistan. More of the same kinds of attacks will only increase the popular opposition to our government's relations with the U.S."

Past requests by Pakistan to purchase their own drones from the U.S., for use in areas along the Afghan border, have so far been turned down by the U.S., according to Pakistani officials.

The gap between Pakistan and the U.S. on the drone issue highlights the degree to which there are still fundamental differences between the two countries on how best to continue the fight against Islamic militants in the border region, CBS News said.

U.S. officials have accused Pakistan of failing to take on some militant groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban , including the notorious Haqqani Network, members of which routinely attack Western forces in Afghanistan. (ANI)