Pakistan PM hits back at US

Pakistan's prime minister today told the United States not to criticise his country's anti-terrorism efforts, saying it could prove counterproductive.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's remarks came amid signs of growing US scepticism about Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's ability and commitment to combat Taliban and al-Qaida militants near the Afghan border.

Pakistan has long been a crucial ally of the US led campaign against terrorism.

Pakistani officials are alarmed at a bill that is being considered in the US Congress and could link billions of pounds in American military aid to Islamabad's performance against al Qaida and the Taliban.

"Given the sacrifices that Pakistan has made in the war on terror, any legislation critical of Pakistan would involve a negative public reaction and prove to be counterproductive," Aziz said.

Aziz was addressing an anti-terrorism conference organised by the Pakistani and US armies to underline the countries' close alliance since the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

"To ensure and preserve this cooperation it is necessary for both of us to prevent any action that can impact this relationship in an adverse way," Aziz said.

The aid bill is a vehicle for the criticism from Democrats, who took control of Congress last year, of Republican President George Bush's foreign policy and counter-terror strategy.

Aziz made no direct criticism of US government policy.

However, he said "new" conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon, as well as that between Israel and the Palestinians, needed resolution in order to reduce resentment among Muslims and dry up support for terrorism.

The "shock and awe" of military campaigns needs to make way for a more "holistic" approach to tackling extremism, he said.

Retired Lt Gen David Barno, who commanded the US-led coalition in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005, said armies and governments needed to match terrorists' strategy of using the media to win support.

Extremists were adept at making political gains even from tactical defeats, especially if military strikes cause civilian victims.

"We need to use as little force as we can to be successful," Barno said.

Gen Ahsan Saleem Hyat, deputy chief of staff of the Pakistan army, said the "global war on terror" was no longer an appropriate term.

"I think we need to come up with a phrase that really translates our actual motives: to bring about peace, harmony and progress," he said.