LOS ANGELES: The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has suspended drone missile strikes on gatherings of low-ranking militants in Pakistan due to tensions with that country, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Citing unnamed current and former US officials, the newspaper said late Friday the undeclared halt in CIA attacks is aimed at reversing a sharp erosion of trust between the two countries.
US-Pakistani relations deteriorated last month after a series of US air strikes killed 24 Pakistan soldiers near the border with Afghanistan.
A joint US-Nato investigation concluded that a disastrous spate of errors and botched communications led to the deaths. Pakistan has rejected the findings.
The pause in the missile strikes comes amid an intensifying debate in the administration of President Barack Obama over the future of the CIA's covert drone war in Pakistan, the paper said.
The CIA has killed dozens of al Qaeda operatives and hundreds of low-ranking fighters there since the first Predator strike in 2004, but the program has infuriated many Pakistanis, the report noted.
Some officials in the State Department and the National Security Council say many of the airstrikes are counterproductive, The Times said.
They argue that rank-and-file militants are easy to replace, and that Pakistani claims of civilian casualties, which the United States dispute, have destabilised the government of President Asif Ali Zardari.
Some US intelligence officials are urging the CIA to cut back the paramilitary role it has assumed since the September 11, 2001, attacks to refocus on espionage, the paper pointed out.
They suggest handing the mission to the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command, which flies its own drones and conducts secret counter-terrorism operations in Yemen and Somalia, The Times noted.
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@Ali-wali: no one is dehumanizing people, other than the terrorists who intentionally murder innocent people, mostly Muslims, every day. My comments were directed to the extremists in Pakistani society. Opinion polls confirm that they are in the majority. Their own words confirm their intolerance and irrational hatreds.
@Parvez: YESSSSSSSSS..did not u nitice?
@Americano: "@iron hand: spoken like a true little Indian man." You will never learn. It is called AWS (Abused Wife Syndrome) in psychiatrist's office. @Aarvey: "@Iron hand: you have so much hatred for India and america " You may want to go and reread the comment by iron hand. Perhaps you will discover exactly the opposite message this time.
@Iron hand, your blanket statement on Pakistani society is akin to dehumanising people, also judging from your comment you yourself come across as an extremist.
America is fighting the war that Pakistan should be fighting for its own survival. America is like Hancock in the movie, you curse him, he goes away and then you start wishing he comes back to save you
@Aarvey: I think you need to read my post a little more carefully.
Drones war, there must be open and honest debate on this issue. If our military is not equipped or trained enough to take on people behind suicide atrocities then the only way to reign these murderers is drone strikes. Otherwise our military should start operation against coward suicide criminals, and to be successful they have to do something about madrassa society which ensures none stop flow of suicide bombers. We all know madrassa society is also abducting individuals for ransome, which in turn is used to run certain madrassas. This madrassa society is a tumour that has ruined the life of 99% ordinary Pakistanis, sooner our establishment roots out this menace the better.
This is just a stand taken for the time being. TTP strikes have increased suddenly. The US strategy is still on. Pakistani military will not find it easy. And US can afford enough supplies from the central asian route to carry on a proxy war. Sooner or later the Pakistani supply lines will also open for Pakistan simply does not have the privilege to confront the US for a long time. The drones will be back.
@RajX: I really wish there was a thumb down option on this page!
@Tehreek-e-Insaf FATA: Close. Doing it for the sake of doing it without a good reason makes it look fake which is worse than not doing it in the first place. It's a show of desperation. It's also sort of insulting when people act like you're dumb enough to buy the bluff. Though the insult part is most likely a wide ranging human trait rather than one of specified group. But, also, the concept, in large part is a matter of not taking a situation more seriously than the ones who complain in the first place. Militant attacks are a good example. Sometimes it seems like other countries take the problems with the militants harming Pakistanis more seriously than Pakistan itself. It causes subtle, and many times unconscious, lack of sympathy towards almost all situations involving the militants inside Pakistan.
@Aarvey: Our country does not mind if terrorists kill our people. We only hate the West for killing our people. It is called Extremist mind set. Proof: You wont see any demonstration on the streets while the media will look the other way as usual.
@Parvez: Dude it is not just drone strikes that resulted in suicide attacks. Read or talk to people who know, that from day one it is war against America for its aggression and its "allies." In the instant case it is Pakistan that is acting as America's mercenary.
@Iron hand: you have so much hatred for India and america but what about the guys who kidnapped 15 soldiers in tank the other day. How about the suicide bomber who is reported to have extinguished 6 soldiers in bannu today. You love to have more of these guys around? Perhaps if your loved ones were part of the casualities you may think of changing your mind?
because we stopped their supply lines
thats the truth, cia lies
For all those beating their chests and claiming that drone strikes result in suicide and terror attacks by the extremists. Now the drones have stopped. Have the terror attacks stopped ??
"Bow Down to them", They "Kick You"... "STAND UP & Look them in the Eyes", They "Start Respecting You"... That's the "YANKEES' Protocol"...
Look this was really helping you out. It was taking out your bad guys without risking your soldiers. Now this rabble will feel emboldened again as death no longer stalks them. @iron hand: spoken like a true little Indian man.
A couple days back a story of a one-year old Swati girl made the headline of the CNN website's frontpage. She was found dumped in a trash can by an American doctor working for an NGO in Swat. She was horribly disfigured from burns apparently by a drone strike. The doctor adopted her and now she lives in the US with her and will be undergoing reconstructive surgery. It was a heart-moving story and a look through the comments showed that the American public is now waking up to the tragedies of drone strikes, which are often casually dismissed as "collateral damage" by their media.
Here's a link to the story:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/21/us/texas-drone-strike-victim/index.html?iref=allsearch
@RajX: Zawahiri and other like him would be stupid enough if they are Pakistan knowing they are more safe anywhere else than here.
coming on drones americans dont drop bombs on the enemies of "ally" Pakistan i.e. TTP leadership enjoying the invaders protection in afghanistan but they will unknown men without a second thought and of course zero human intelligence
even the Brits and their media are speaking out against drones but somehow our own few enlightened liberal folks and friends on east see them as legit to bomb a unknown bearded "badman" without any trial
The drone attacks are only effective if the operator has reliable human intelligence where the target is. Sometimes it looks as if the operator strikes at random, hoping to hit the target, without taking the loss of innocent lives into account.
@Hu Jintao: suspected militant like Osama? Al zawahiri is still left. May e he is living in abotabad too.
By halting they know it was innocent people they were killing.. And now they temporarily vow not to kill those innocent people through their drone strikes - they are fully aware that hardly any militants
I just hope the US administration doesn't make any decisions based on the mistaken belief that they can mollify the Pakistani populace. Pakistani hatred of America, like their hatred of India, is not a matter of cause and effect. It is deeply, irrevocably ingrained into the extremist majority of their society, and is far too valuable to their poisonous narrative to ever be mitigated by "good behavior."
whatever the underlying cause, it is a timely and welcome step
I wish just once if our Army fired US drones....
no more "suspected militants" left to kill or what?
Such tender mercies!!!!
The news ends with " handing the mission to the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command, which flies its own drones and conducts secret counter-terrorism operations in Yemen and Somalia, The Times noted." The CIA operated drones would be replaced by another set of drones. In any case almost all the Al Q, top leaders are eliminated and the remaining can be targeted anytime like OBL was. The US has been running out of the targets for drones and after a decade they have to wrap up their operations anyway. The game of carrot and stick is being played.