Pakistan official says US put drone strikes on hold after deadly NATO raid along Afghan border=================================================
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Pakistani police officers and paramilitary soldiers stand guard at the main entrance of Supreme Court building in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. Pakistan’s Supreme Court has begun investigating a secret memo sent to Washington that has sharply raised tensions between the weak civilian government and the powerful military.
By Associated Press,
Pakistani police officers and paramilitary soldiers stand guard at the main entrance of Supreme Court building in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. Pakistan’s Supreme Court has begun investigating a secret memo sent to Washington that has sharply raised tensions between the weak civilian government and the powerful military.
By Associated Press,
Published: December 19 |
Updated: Tuesday, December 20, 2:26 PM
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ISLAMABAD — The CIA has stopped firing missiles at militants in Pakistan since last month’s deadly NATO airstrikes along the Afghan border so as not to “aggravate” already strained ties with Islamabad, the chief of Pakistan’s senate defense committee said Tuesday.
The 33-day pause is the longest since the program began in 2004, according to the Long War Journal, a website that tracks the strikes.
Tensions between Pakistan and the United States are at their lowest ebb in years following the Nov. 26 airstrikes at the Pakistani army border outpost that killed 24 soldiers. The Pakistani army responded by closing its border with Afghanistan to trucks carrying U.S. and NATO war supplies. It is demanding a complete review of its relationship with Washington.
Javed Ashraf Qazi, the defense committee chief, said he believed the pause in attacks was because the U.S. “does not want to aggravate the situation any further.”
Still, Qazai, a former army general who gets high-level briefings because of his position on the committee, said he believed that if the United States had a “high-level” target in its sights then, “I think they would go ahead” and launch a strike . “If they do so, the results could get worse,” he said.
Pakistan’s government and army have long publicly protested the U.S. drone program, but in private have given their consent. The attacks are very unpopular among ordinary Pakistanis, who generally regard them as an unacceptable breach of sovereignty.
American officials do not comment on the drone program in public.
The Long War Journal quoted an anonymous American official as saying the pause was because another attack “push US-Pakistan relations past the point of no return.”
The CIA drone program began in 2004 to target al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan’s tribal regions along the Afghan border, but the frequency of the attacks began increasing in 2008. There have been around 60 this year, significantly less than in 2010. American officials say privately that the drones are a key weapon in reducing the threat from militants in the border area.
There have been at least two other pauses in the drone program that have coincided with tense tie between Islamabad and Pakistan, including earlier this year when Pakistan was detaining CIA contractor Raymond Davis after he killed two people in the eastern city of Lahore.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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ISLAMABAD — The CIA has stopped firing missiles at militants in Pakistan since last month’s deadly NATO airstrikes along the Afghan border so as not to “aggravate” already strained ties with Islamabad, the chief of Pakistan’s senate defense committee said Tuesday.
The 33-day pause is the longest since the program began in 2004, according to the Long War Journal, a website that tracks the strikes.
Tensions between Pakistan and the United States are at their lowest ebb in years following the Nov. 26 airstrikes at the Pakistani army border outpost that killed 24 soldiers. The Pakistani army responded by closing its border with Afghanistan to trucks carrying U.S. and NATO war supplies. It is demanding a complete review of its relationship with Washington.
Javed Ashraf Qazi, the defense committee chief, said he believed the pause in attacks was because the U.S. “does not want to aggravate the situation any further.”
Still, Qazai, a former army general who gets high-level briefings because of his position on the committee, said he believed that if the United States had a “high-level” target in its sights then, “I think they would go ahead” and launch a strike . “If they do so, the results could get worse,” he said.
Pakistan’s government and army have long publicly protested the U.S. drone program, but in private have given their consent. The attacks are very unpopular among ordinary Pakistanis, who generally regard them as an unacceptable breach of sovereignty.
American officials do not comment on the drone program in public.
The Long War Journal quoted an anonymous American official as saying the pause was because another attack “push US-Pakistan relations past the point of no return.”
The CIA drone program began in 2004 to target al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan’s tribal regions along the Afghan border, but the frequency of the attacks began increasing in 2008. There have been around 60 this year, significantly less than in 2010. American officials say privately that the drones are a key weapon in reducing the threat from militants in the border area.
There have been at least two other pauses in the drone program that have coincided with tense tie between Islamabad and Pakistan, including earlier this year when Pakistan was detaining CIA contractor Raymond Davis after he killed two people in the eastern city of Lahore.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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