Pakistani parliament says no to US drones

ISLAMABAD

A Pakistani parliamentary commission demanded yesterday an end to American drone attacks inside the country and an apology for deadly U.S. airstrikes in November as part of a review of its near-severed relations with the United States.

The commission was tasked with going over ties with Washington after errant airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and led to the closure of U.S. and NATO supply lines to Afghanistan. “The U.S. must review its footprints in Pakistan,” commission head Raza Rabbani said, reading the recommendations. “This means the cessation of drone strikes inside Pakistan.” Washington wants to rebuild its relationship with Pakistan, whose cooperation is seen as key to the success of striking a deal with insurgents in neighboring Afghanistan.

US sergeant ‘can’t recall’ Afghan massacre
Meanwhile, the U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers does not remember the incident, his lawyer said on March 19, but the Pentagon has announced that he could be charged within days. The 38-year-old trooper’s civilian attorney told CBS that the suspect cannot recall much about the deaths, which have plunged U.S.-Afghan relations to a new low. “He has an early memory of that evening and he has a later memory... but he doesn’t have memory of the evening in between,” John Henry Browne told CBS News after meeting Bales for the first time at Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas. Bales is accused of leaving his base in Kandahar province on the night of March 11 and going house to house to kill the villagers, including nine children.