WASHINGTON (APP) - Pakistan must be given the technology to conduct the anti-militant operations on its own, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi stressed, arguing it would help Islamabad prosecute the fight against terrorism with sustained public backing. When you do it and theres collateral damage, the public opinion is against the United States, he said, according to The Houston Chronicle. If we do it ... we are in charge and we take responsibility, he added, according to a report, which noted that civilian casualties from United States-run drone attacks along the border have prompted a backlash. The United States has not yet agreed to give up control over the drone attacks, he acknowledged, but I think they are beginning to understand our point of view. Qureshi stopped in Houston, hours after a suicide bomber set off an explosion in Islamabd on Monday, killing five people working for UN food agency. When people see that there are innocent people dying, when they see all the major urban centers of Pakistan being hit ... because of these extremists, I think the public opinion has changed, he said at Rice Universitys Baker Institute for Public Policy. There is almost a consensus in Pakistan that an immediate priority is to ... fight this. On his US visit, Qureshi is meeting with think tanks, politicians and newspaper editorial boards, promoting his countrys commitment to combat terrorism and promising transparency in the use of $1.5 billion in annual aid approved last week by Congress. The Pakistani diplomat took no stand on whether the United States should increase troop levels in Afghanistan. The message I am here to give is, stay the course, he said. The withdrawal of American assistance after the Soviets were banished from Afghanistan led to many of todays problems, he told members of the Houston Chronicle editorial board. If you create a vacuum, the bad guys, the militants, will fill the vacuum.