"We have made it very clear to Pakistani leaders that we will continue to defend ourselves," Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said during an interaction at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) here.
His assertion came a day after Pakistan summoned the US envoy in Islamabad and lodged a protest over continued drone strikes, terming these as "unlawful" and violative of the country's sovereignty.
Pakistan lodged the protest soon after a drone attack killed al-Qaeda's second-in-command Abu Yahya al-Libi along with 15 other militants yesterday in its northwestern tribal region.
Admitting that the US' relationship with Pakistan were "complicated", he said it was "often times frustrating, often times desperate, often times difficult." But, at the same time, he said, "It is a necessary relationship."
In a strong defence of the drone strikes, Panetta said it was a matter of guarding the sovereignty of the US as much as it was about protecting Pakistan.
He noted that more than 3,000 American nationals were killed in the 9/11 attacks in New York and the leadership of these attackers was holed up in Pakistan's tribal regions.
Panetta said Pakistan faced the same kinds of threat as the US from the al-Qaeda leaders holed up in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA).
The strikes were not just about protecting the US but were protecting Pakistan as well since people in that country were also targets of the insurgents, he said. (More)
