WASHINGTON - PAKISTAN'S foreign minister said on Wednesday that his country has asked the United States to provide unmanned aircraft that would allow Pakistan to strike extremists hiding in rugged terrain along the Afghan border.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in an interview with Associated Press reporters and editors that Pakistan, and not the United States, should control the missile strikes that have killed high-level extremists but also civilians.

He is also defending, in meetings with top Obama administration officials, his government's decision to offer a peace deal to militants, and is trying to reassure Americans worried about the release from house arrest of Abdul Qadeer Khan, a scientist whose smuggling operation shipped nuclear technology to North Korea and Iran.

The US missile strikes are one of the most sensitive issues in US-Pakistan ties, and Mr Qureshi said they are making it harder for his government to persuade infuriated Pakistanis along the frontier to support the fight against militants.

'Pakistan is a willing partner with the US in this fight,' he said. 'Let us exercise that judgment.' The United States relies on nuclear-armed Pakistan to fight resurgent extremists operating along the Afghan-Pakistan border, and is eager to strengthen a Washington-backed government facing high inflation, a sinking currency, widespread poverty and a violent insurgency by Islamic militants.

But the United States has continued to fire missiles into Pakistan from drones believed launched from neighboring Afghanistan. Mr Qureshi said the matter of Pakistan getting drones was raised Tuesday in a meeting with President Barack Obama's national security adviser, retired Gen James Jones. He would not provide specific details; 'we are talking at this stage,' he said.

Mr Qureshi also described the Obama White House as more 'willing to listen' to Pakistan and 'more understanding' than the Bush administration.

The Bush administration initially was a strong supporter of the current Pakistani government's predecessor, former President Pervez Musharraf, calling the former general 'indispensable'. The Bush government, Mr Qureshi said, 'had a point of view, and it was like the approach was, 'This is it; take it or leave it'. Mr Qureshi and Pakistan's army chief are in Washington to participate, along with Afghan Foreign Minister Dadfar Rangeen Spanta, in the Obama administration's efforts to draw up a new strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Mr Qureshi described his message to US officials as follows: 'Do not doubt our commitment - this government has demonstrated its political will - but make us more effective, and, if you want to see better performance, then enhance our capacity.' Pakistan, he said, needs more helicopters and night-vision technology to better fight militants.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the US review of Pakistan and Afghanistan 'won't just be window dressing: take a look at our plan and sign off on it when it's already virtually completed.' 'We are all collectively in this, and we need as much advice and buy-in as possible for this to be a' success, Mr Morrell told reporters. -- AP