JayAtl
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The CIA's targeted killing program in Pakistan, once the mainstay of President Barack Obama's counterterrorism effort, is winding down.
Because of stricter rules, diplomatic sensitivities and the changing nature of the al-Qaida threat, there hasn't been a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's tribal areas since Christmas. And American officials say opportunities for drone attacks will dwindle further as the CIA and the military draw down in neighboring Afghanistan, reducing their intelligence-gathering footprint.
"The program (in Pakistan) appears to have ended," said Peter Bergen, who has closely studied drone strikes for the New America Foundation, a Washington think tank.
U.S. officials won't go that far, but Obama announced this week a plan to pull nearly all American troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2016. The targeted killing program in Pakistan relies on drones flown from, and intelligence gathered in, U.S. bases in Afghanistan that would then be closed.
In a major foreign policy speech at the U.S. Military Academy Wednesday, Obama said the U.S. would continue to carry out occasional drone strikes against terrorist targets, but he cited Yemen and Somalia, not Pakistan, where Hellfire missiles once rained down at a rate of two per week.
Armed U.S. drones are still flying over Pakistan's tribal areas, and CIA targeting officers are still nominating militants to the kill list, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the covert program publicly. But over the last five months, no missiles have been fired.
Several factors are driving the change, U.S. officials say. Many of the senior al-Qaida figures in Pakistan have been killed. Those who remain are much harder to target because they are avoiding mobile phones and traveling with children, benefiting from stricter targeting rules designed to prevent civilian casualties.
CIA Winds Down Drone Strike Program In Pakistan
Because of stricter rules, diplomatic sensitivities and the changing nature of the al-Qaida threat, there hasn't been a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's tribal areas since Christmas. And American officials say opportunities for drone attacks will dwindle further as the CIA and the military draw down in neighboring Afghanistan, reducing their intelligence-gathering footprint.
"The program (in Pakistan) appears to have ended," said Peter Bergen, who has closely studied drone strikes for the New America Foundation, a Washington think tank.
U.S. officials won't go that far, but Obama announced this week a plan to pull nearly all American troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2016. The targeted killing program in Pakistan relies on drones flown from, and intelligence gathered in, U.S. bases in Afghanistan that would then be closed.
In a major foreign policy speech at the U.S. Military Academy Wednesday, Obama said the U.S. would continue to carry out occasional drone strikes against terrorist targets, but he cited Yemen and Somalia, not Pakistan, where Hellfire missiles once rained down at a rate of two per week.
Armed U.S. drones are still flying over Pakistan's tribal areas, and CIA targeting officers are still nominating militants to the kill list, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the covert program publicly. But over the last five months, no missiles have been fired.
Several factors are driving the change, U.S. officials say. Many of the senior al-Qaida figures in Pakistan have been killed. Those who remain are much harder to target because they are avoiding mobile phones and traveling with children, benefiting from stricter targeting rules designed to prevent civilian casualties.
CIA Winds Down Drone Strike Program In Pakistan
