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US Commander in Pakistan to Discusses Regional Security

By Barry Newhouse
Islamabad
03 November 2008

U.S. Commander David Petraeus is in Islamabad for talks with military and civilian leaders on regional security issues. His visit follows sharp criticism from Pakistani lawmakers over an increase in U.S. airstrikes against militants in Pakistan. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Islamabad.

Pakistani civilian and military leaders pressed the top U.S. commander in the region to halt missile strikes against militant targets within Pakistan.

General David Petraeus took charge of U.S. Central Command last week and arrived in Pakistan Sunday. A Pakistani Defense Ministry statement said officials told General Petraeus that missile strikes outrage the public, creating anti-American sentiment.

Since August, about 20 missile strikes have hit suspected Taliban and al Qaida targets in Pakistan's western tribal agencies. The strikes follow a surge of militant activity in eastern Afghanistan that U.S. commanders blame on militant sanctuaries in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, militants abducted a French aid worker during morning rush hour in Kabul. Afghan security officials said the French national was kidnapped by three gunmen off a street in Kabul at about nine-o'clock Monday morning.

Interior Ministry Spokesman Zamary Bashary said a guard with the Afghan national security agency was standing nearby when the gunmen tried to abduct the aid worker.

He said the guard fought with the attackers but during the struggle they wounded him and then later killed him. He said the kidnappers escaped from the scene but police have blocked off certain neighborhoods and are searching the area.

Authorities have not released the hostage's name.

Residents say militants have increased kidnappings of wealthy locals in the last few months as security deteriorated on the outskirts of Kabul. Security conditions have deteriorated inside Kabul as well, with the recent killing of three foreigners during the daytime and a suicide attack against the Afghan Culture Ministry.

In northern Pakistan, officials said they are continuing to search for an Afghan government advisor who was kidnapped while visiting his in-laws in Chitral on Sunday.

Police officials said Akhtar Kohistani, an adviser to the Afghan Ministry of Rural Development, was kidnapped when gumen broke into his relative's home.

Kohistani was the third high-profile Afghan to be kidnapped in Pakistan in recent months. Last week, the brother of Afghanistan's finance minister was kidnapped from the upscale Hayatabad district in Peshawar. Afghanistan's top diplomat was abducted from the same neighborhood in September. All of the men are still missing.