US drone programme making America more hated in Pakistan than India: Expert

Washington, June 16 (ANI): The Obama administration's drone campaign, which conducts air strikes against suspected militant targets in tribal areas, will not influence the outcome of an Afghan settlement, but have already tarnished the US' image in Pakistan, according to an American expert.

Michael Krepon, who is Director South Asian Program at the Stimson Center, pointed out in an article in The Washington Post that Afghanistan's future matters more critically to Pakistan than to the US.

"Afghanistan's future matters much more to Pakistan than to the United States. This elemental truth is forgotten in US deliberations about how best to leverage Pakistan to achieve a political settlement in Afghanistan," he wrote.

Regarding the unmanned predator drone strikes that the US regularly carries out against militant sanctuaries, Krepon said they have succeeded in casting the US in a more negative light than even longtime rival India, The Dawn reports.

"These strikes will ultimately fail to influence the outcome of an Afghan settlement, but they have already succeeded in making the United States more hated in Pakistan than India," he wrote.

Krepon further said that Pakistan wants a government in Kabul that, after most US troops withdraw in 2014, will be friendlier to it than India.

"Pakistani resolve is rooted in the assumption that, if India gains a strong foothold in Afghanistan, then Pakistan's largest and most resource-rich province, Balochistan, would be ripe for an India-supported insurgency, which looks at various aspects of relations, policies and continuing tensions between the two countries," he said. (ANI)