Kiyani Demands US Limit Drone Attacks and Operations

[Omar1984]

Are the drone attacks over?


ISLAMABAD: Ever since condemnation of drone attacks by the chief of army staff last month there has been no Predator attack in the country during the past three weeks.

The CIA has been launching drone attacks on almost a daily basis but a substantial decrease was witnessed after the arrest of Raymond Davis, the CIA undercover agent who killed two Pakistanis in Lahore on January 27 this year. On the release of Raymond Davis, a major drone attack took place in the Dattakheil area of North Waziristan Agency that claimed the lives of over 40 civilians. The COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani strongly condemned the drone attack.

The Conflict Monitoring Centre (CMC), a watchdog that closely monitors the drones and other anti-state militancy, says that ever since the COAS condemned the drone attacks, the CIA has stopped its drone operations in Pakistan.

A spokesman of the CMC also says that drone attack had almost dried up during Davis’s detention but soon after his release a major attack was conducted in North Waziristan which was condemned by General Kayani for the first time.

According to a Reuters’s report, a senior Pakistani intelligence officer was quoted as saying that joint US-Pakistan intelligence operations have been halted since late January. ‘Uneasy US-Pakistani ties have become even tenser after a string of diplomatic disputes so far this year, including a massive drone strike in March and the case of Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor who shot dead two Pakistanis on January 27 in Lahore’, Reuters reported.

It is worth mentioning here that drone campaign had killed 938 people in 132 attacks during the year 2010. On the average, each month of the last year witnessed 11 drone attacks and killings of 77 people. As such, there was no significant change in intensity of drone attacks in the New Year till Raymond Davis issue emerged. The US had intensified drone attack campaign since the beginning of the last year as the first month of the year 2010 had witnessed 12 drone attacks and killings of 107 persons. Earlier, 1,114 people were killed in 96 drone attacks from 2004 to 2009. An unprecedented increase in drone attacks was observed during the last four months of the year 2010. During this period, 451 people were killed in 51 drone attacks. On the average, each month 113 people were killed in 13 attacks. The number of attacks during the month of January 2011 showed no change in the intensity of the drone strikes.

The first US drone attack inside Pakistan was carried out against the Taliban commander Moulvi Naik Muhammad on June 18, 2004. It was the only attack during the year. There were only nine attacks reported from 2004 to 2007. Out of them, six were carried out in North Waziristan. President Bush had intensified the Drone campaign inside Pakistan during the last year of his tenure. Consequently, 34 such attacks and killing of 296 people were reported during the year 2008. It was expected that newly elected President Obama would review US drone policy. But he not only continued it but also intensified to the unprecedented level. US killed 709 people in 53 drone attacks in the year 2009. Due to weak public and government reaction to these attacks in Pakistan, the US government was encouraged to increase the intensity of drone attacks to unprecedented level in 2010 killing 938 people in 132 attacks. So far - from 2004 to April 10, 2011 - US drone campaign has killed at least 2,300 persons in 245 attacks in Pakistan.


Source: Are the drone attacks over?

 

[Major Sahab]

General Kayani I salut you boy.

 

[Leader]

today it was in news that since the condemnation by Kiyani, its been 3 week no drone attack has taken place

two days ago a news said that CIA-ISI operations put on halt

and further back news came that PAKistan is shifting towards China for its military requirements *(something like that...)

it makes perfect sense where the above stated information is coming from...

these attempts of make up would do for many, but not for me !!

 

[53fd]

Looks like the leadership has finally gotten some sense into them, considering the fact that Zardari criticized the US's WOT & the effect it had on Pakistan, as well as Kayani who said the drone attacks were a violation of the country's sovereignty.

 

[ramu]

The current state of US Pakistan relations could have a bearing on this development. Is the US biting time while the public opinion in Pakistan and Afghanistan is at an all time low for US led forces ?

 

[Irfan Baloch]

today it was in news that since the condemnation by Kiyani, its been 3 week no drone attack has taken place

two days ago a news said that CIA-ISI operations put on halt

and further back news came that PAKistan is shifting towards China for its military requirements *(something like that...)

it makes perfect sense where the above stated information is coming from...

these attempts of make up would do for many, but not for me !!

I wont hold my breath on it either. I always dread such threads like

no suicide attack since ...
no drone strike since...
no abduction or goverment officials since...
no destruction of schools since ....


and before the thread reaches 2nd page the inevitable happens.

 

[Bhim]

Wowww wonderful news, now finally the naive terrorists can live peacefully..

 

[53fd]

Wowww wonderful news, now finally the naive terrorists can live peacefully..

Drone strikes only produce more terrorists my friend. Pakistan isn't being helped by all the Uzbek, Tajik, Arab, Afghan terrorists coming into Pakistan's tribal regions from outside the country either.

 

[Leader]

I wont hold my breath on it either. I always dread such threads like

no suicide attack since ...
no drone strike since...
no abduction or goverment officials since...
no destruction of schools since ....


and before the thread reaches 2nd page the inevitable happens.

well, in that case, let me break the news for you Shuja Pasha is visiting USA

 

[RazorMC]

A General's condemnation is no laughing matter and one coming from someone on whom the US relies for cooperation.
But I hope that the drone attacks end completely and that the military must have understood the public opinion is totally against it.

 

[Mutee]

It's not because of his condemnation just wait and watch they are just waiting for the right targets

 

[khurasaan1]

A General's condemnation is no laughing matter and one coming from someone on whom the US relies for cooperation.
But I hope that the drone attacks end completely and that the military must have understood the public opinion is totally against it.

Bro. the drones attacks needa be stopped once and for all...cuz Army got no choice...thats the last chance for everybody....any drone entering into our territory needa be shot down...without any question...no matter what...

 

[53fd]

good we are on the same side this time

I'm always on the side of Pakistan, don't know about you. Read my other posts, you'll see I'm always on the side of Pakistan.

 

[Dance]

Pakistan has privately demanded the Central Intelligence Agency stop drone strikes against militants on its territory, officials say, a move that threatens to severely hamper one of the U.S.'s most effective weapons against al Qaeda and Taliban leaders.

Pakistan has also asked the U.S. to reduce the number of U.S. intelligence and Special Operations personnel in the country, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials.

The U.S. strategy in the war in Afghanistan hinges on going after militants in their Pakistani havens. The breakdown in intelligence cooperation has cast a pall over U.S.-Pakistani relations, with some officials in both countries saying intelligence ties are now at their lowest point since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Beyond the Afghan battlefield, officials believe that without a robust counter-terrorism 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.

Pakistan has sent private messages in recent weeks objecting to the CIA drone strikes, complaining that they have gone too far, cause civilian casualties and undercut the civilian government's public standing. Drone strikes are opposed by the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis, and are widely seen as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty.

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.

U.S. officials on Monday publicly sought to play down the tensions. CIA Director Leon Panetta met with the head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha. After the meeting, CIA spokesman George Little said the intelligence relationship "remains on solid footing."

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. Of special concern to Pakistanis are American efforts to gather intelligence on a number of militant groups with ties to Pakistan's intelligence agency, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Haqqani network. Lashkar was responsible for the 2008 attack on Mumbai; the Haqqani network is one of the pillars of the Taliban insurgency and is based in North Waziristan, a border tribal area frequently targeted by CIA drones.

"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."

The CIA's covert drone program has long operated under a secret arrangement in which Pakistani officials could deny any involvement in the strikes and criticize them publicly, even as the Pakistan intelligence agency secretly relayed targeting information to the CIA and allowed the agency to operate from its territory.

That arrangement, however, appears to be unraveling.

The CIA was caught off guard when Pakistan's Army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, issued a rare public statement condemning a March 17 U.S. drone strike that killed up to 40 people in North Waziristan. The strike came a day after Mr. Davis's release from jail, and some Pakistani officials saw the strike as a slap.

Mr. Kayani said the U.S. had "carelessly and callously targeted" a peaceful meeting of elders in North Waziristan. U.S. officials 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. has not committed to curtailing the drone program in response to Pakistan's request. The CIA operates covertly, meaning the program does not require Islamabad's support, under U.S. law. Some officials say the CIA already operates with relative autonomy in the tribal areas and play down the level of support they now receive from Pakistani intelligence.

Pakistan has limited control over the tribal areas, and the region has in the past decade become home base for myriad militant groups. Some are focused on fighting U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, others primarily hit targets inside Pakistan, and some operate on both sides of the frontier.

Yet without the cooperation of Pakistan, which has a far more extensive informant network in the tribal areas, U.S. and Pakistani officials believe the effectiveness and accuracy of CIA strikes could suffer.

A senior Pakistani official said Pakistan's military had long been uncomfortable with the CIA 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."

U.S. officials overcame early Pakistani objections to the program by targeting leaders of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, or TTP, as the Pakistani offshoot of the Afghan Taliban is known. In August 2009, the TTP's founding leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a CIA drone strike. Officials from both countries said Pakistani intelligence had helped pinpoint Mr. Mehsud's location.

Pakistan Demands End to U.S. Drone Strikes - WSJ.com

 

[khurasaan1]

Yes! they needa be stopped at all cost...otherwise ...is gonna be disaster for both countries...