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India-Pakistan | |||||||
Pakistan Tells U.S. to Halt Drone-Zaps | |||||||
2011-04-12 | |||||||
Pakistan has privately demanded the Central Intelligence Agency suspend drone strikes against militants on its territory, one of the U.S.'s most effective weapons against al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, officials said.
Beyond the Afghan battlefield, officials believe that without a robust counterterrorism relationship with Pakistan, al Qaeda and other groups can operate with far greater impunity when planning attacks on the U.S. and Europe. The vast majority of attacks against the West in the last decade originated in Pakistan. Relations have been under heightened strain since Pakistan's arrest in January of CIA contractor Raymond Davis, who was jailed after killing two armed Pakistani men in Lahore on Jan. 27. Mr. Davis was released last month, but the case fueled Pakistani resentment over the presence of U.S. operatives in their country. Pakistani officials complained that Mr. Davis and potentially dozens of other CIA operatives were working without Islamabad's full knowledge. Drone strikes are opposed by an overwhelming majority of Pakistanis, and are widely seen as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty.
That arrangement appears to be unraveling. Pakistani civilian, military and intelligence officials have sent private messages in recent weeks objecting to the strikes, complaining they have gone too far and undercut the government's public standing. Pakistani officials say the drones are responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths since the program was greatly expanded in the last half of 2008. Their U.S. counterparts say the number of civilians killed is at most a few dozen.
Some U.S. officials believe Pakistan is using the threat to cut off intelligence cooperation to get greater oversight of covert U.S. activities on its territory.
"The Pakistanis have asked for more visibility into some things, and that request is being talked about," a U.S. official said. "The bottom line is that joint cooperation is essential to the security of the two nations. The stakes are too high." The official added: "The United States expects to continue its aggressive counterterrorism operations in Pakistan, and it would be unfortunate if the Pakistanis somehow stepped back from counterterrorism efforts that protect Americans and their citizens alike."
U.S. officials provided assurances to Lt. Gen. Pasha that he wouldn't be summoned for questioning in the case during his visit this week. The CIA has been caught off guard by Islamabad's recent actions, including a rare public statement by Pakistan's Army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, condemning a March 17 U.S. drone strike that Pakistan said killed up to 40 people in North Waziristan. The strike came a day after Mr. Davis's release; some Pakistani officials saw the strike as a provocation. Mr. Kayani said the U.S. had "carelessly and callously targeted" a peaceful meeting of elders in North Waziristan. U.S. officials say they believe the dead were militants and dispute the high death toll. Officials say Gen. Kayani's public condemnation has been matched with a series of private messages from Islamabad asking the Obama administration to curtail the drone strikes, and demanding a fuller accounting of the March 17 incident. The U.S. hasn't committed to adjusting the drone program in response to Pakistan's request. The CIA operates covertly, meaning the program doesn't require Islamabad's support, under U.S. law. Some officials say the CIA operates with relative autonomy in the tribal areas. They played down the level of support they now receive from Pakistani intelligence. Pakistan has Yet without the cooperation of Pakistan, which has a far more extensive informant network in the tribal areas, U.S. and Pakistani officials say the effectiveness and accuracy of CIA strikes could suffer. A senior Pakistani official said Pakistan's military had long been uncomfortable with the drone campaign. It now could no longer provide any "operational aid" to the campaign following a series of "intolerable outrages," the official said. The Pakistani official cited the March 17 drone strike as a "catalyst" but said tensions had been mounting with the U.S. for some time. "Our people don't like it," the official said. "We don't like it."
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Posted by:Steve White |
#14 don't forget too stop payment on the checks either |
Posted by: chris 2011-04-12 20:15 |
#13 The head of the ISI met with Leon Panetta today. Some of the things he demanded were to be informed of the names and missions of every US covert agent in Pakistan, and to be informed of all drone strikes beforehand. |
Posted by: Deacon Blues 2011-04-12 19:53 |
#12 Pull every US person out of Pakistan, then start ARCLIGHTing the entire area until it's just one big pile of gravel - radioactive in some areas. It's time Pakistan felt some hurt - some SERIOUS hurt. I'm tired of a tribal, illiterate, arrogant, and just plain unsociable bunch of Neanderthal rejects making themselves a pain in MY a$$. "Phakestan" needs to cease to exist. |
Posted by: Old Patriot 2011-04-12 19:05 |
#11 The ISI knew about Davis. Of course they did. Or at least the government did. How many times had the American embassy submitted Davis's paperwork to get him diplomatic status, only to have the Pakistani government ignore it? The issue is, are we ready for open war against Pakistan? Because that's what they're working themselves up to, fitting it into the "White Colonialist Oppressor" meme. |
Posted by: trailing wife 2011-04-12 12:13 |
#10 Mr. Davis and potentially dozens of other CIA operatives were working without Islamabad's full knowledge. Total bull. The ISI knew about Davis. The 2 guys who tried to "rob" him were ISI operatives tailing him (without his knowledge). They are primarily pissed that their 2 agents got shot. |
Posted by: Frozen Al 2011-04-12 11:26 |
#9 Start zapping the ISI. |
Posted by: mojo 2011-04-12 10:37 |
#8 Spies Gone Wild Pakistan's leaders are losing their war with Islamic terrorists. Not because the security forces can't hunt down and kill Islamic terrorists, but because the continued corruption and incompetent government has kept most Pakistanis unhappy with their government. This makes it possible to keep recruiting new Islamic terrorists, who keep seeking to kill the people who run the country. Thus the Taliban threat to come after senior military and civilian leaders if the government did not halt the American CIA use of UAVs to kill terrorist leaders. Officially, the government has refused to comply. But it appears that the intelligence agency, ISI, has backed down to the Taliban threat. Cooperation between the CIA and ISI has been much reduced in the last four months, As a result, the number of CIA missile attacks on terrorist leaders are down as well. The U.S. has been forced to pull dozens of intelligence operatives out of Pakistan. |
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 2011-04-12 09:40 |
#7 Yep, nuke them from space. |
Posted by: Jefferson 2011-04-12 09:20 |
#6 Halt the drones, use nuke tipped ICBMs instead. |
Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2011-04-12 09:01 |
#5 Halt and suspend mean rather different things. |
Posted by: phil_b 2011-04-12 02:40 |
#4 MEMRI.ORG > FORMER PAKISTANI MILITARY OFFICER: TRIBESMEN [Drone Strike victims]SHOULD BE PERMITTED TO TAKE REVENGE AGZ THE US FOR DRONE ATTACKS;THE TIME HAS COME FOR PAKISTAN TO EXIT THE WAR AGZ TERROR [ + withdraw from all Accords wid USA]. UAV/Drone Strikes which kill or maim innocent Pakistani civilians including Tribemen is tantamount to the US waging de facto War agz Pakistan = US-PAK WAR IN ALL BUT NAME??? |
Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-04-12 02:31 |
#3 Take out Gul and Khan and then offer to talk about the drones and such... |
Posted by: Water Modem 2011-04-12 01:26 |
#2 Meanwhile, the US repor supports INDIA's contention of sizable CPLA troops presence in the LOC in PAK-OCCUPIED KASHMIR [PoK], which Indjuh deems a direct threat to its national security. * ION MINZHOU, PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > [NEastern South America] CHINA EXPANDS ITS PRESENCE IN SURINAME, BUT ACCUSED OF "CHINESE INVASION". |
Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-04-12 00:16 |
#1 How about we tell Pakistan to go to hell. |
Posted by: crosspatch 2011-04-12 00:13 |