US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived in Afghanistan today after a two day visit to India. During a press conference Panetta asserted that “it is difficult to achieve peace in Afghanistan as long as there is safe haven for terrorists in Pakistan,” adding that the US is “reaching the limits of our patience here and for that reason it is extremely important that Pakistan take action.”

However the US has come under increased scrutiny internationally for fatal actions this week in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. On Monday a drone strike in northwestern Pakistan killed a top al-Qaida member and 14 others. The target, Abu Yahya al-Libi, has been wanted by the US since he escaped capture at Bagram Air Field in 2005. White House spokesman Jay Carney described al-Libi as al-Qaida’s “general manager” and called his death a “major blow” to the terrorist network. However, on Tuesday Pakistan’s foreign minister announced he would lodge a complaint with a senior US diplomat. He called the drone strike “unlawful, against international law, and a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.”

Monday’s strike in North Waziristan is the eighth in two weeks along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. It comes just a week after the New York Times revealed the existence of a so-called “kill list” and the details of how President Obama and his administration choose targets to be killed in areas including Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. Obama has been reported as taking personal responsibility for the list.

And, in Afghanistan, the US and NATO are being blamed for killing 18 civilians this week. Afghan officials in Logar Province reported the deaths after a strike on Wednesday sometime after midnight.
NATO officials dispute the accusation, saying no civilians were killed and two were injured when a missile hit a home in the Baraki Barak district. NATO claims a meeting of Taliban fighters was taking place at the time the house was targeted. Locals say NATO killed a tribal leader, and a number of women and children in the strike. Later on Wednesday, 22 additional civilians were killed and many more injured in a suicide bombing at a market in Kandahar.

GUEST: Junaid Ahmad, assistant professor of law at Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan and is currently visiting the U.S