Trust Is Issue, Pakistan Tells U.S.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Two senior American officials came under withering public criticism from Pakistan on Tuesday, with the Pakistani foreign minister saying that “trust” between the countries was in question, particularly over the issue of American missile attacks in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

With the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, and the special envoy to the region, Richard C. Holbrooke, at his side, the minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said: “We did talk about drones, and let me be very frank: there is a gap between us.”

He added, “The bottom line is the question of trust.”

In another sign of new strains in the relationship, the head of Pakistan’s intelligence service, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, refused to meet separately with Mr. Holbrooke and Admiral Mullen, who had requested a meeting, according to Pakistani officials and an American official, who sought anonymity because he did not want to further damage relations.