VOA News
Pakistan has pulled out of talks with the United States on Afghanistan, after a U.S. drone strike killed 38 people in the country's northwest tribal region.
Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir summoned U.S. Ambassador Cameron Munter Friday to strongly protest Thursday's attack, calling it unacceptable and a “flagrant” violation of humanitarian law.
The country's civilian and military leaders have already condemned the missile strike, which they say hit a meeting of tribal elders in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan. Pakistani intelligence officials were quoted Thursday as saying militants were among those killed.
The foreign secretary said that under the current circumstances, Pakistan would not participate in trilateral meetings that include Afghanistan next week in Brussels.
It was an unusually strong protest from Pakistan, which publicly disapproves of the American drone strikes but has quietly tolerated them. The U.S. does not publicly acknowledge the strikes.
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