US witholds judgement on UN drone strike investigation

White House official says US is engaged in talks with Pakistan on the subject of drones.

WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday refrained from passing a judgment on the UN special rapporteur Ben Emmerson’s report that drone strikes in Pakistan had killed at least 400 civilians and that the strikes violate the country’s sovereignty.

“I can tell you that our administration is aware of Emmerson's report.  But at this point, I don’t have a specific comment on either intelligence operations or any military operations,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters on Friday.

Earnest referred to talks with Pakistan on the drone strikes, “as you know, this administration is in regular and close contact with Pakistan.”

“We have a solid working relationship with them on a range of issues, including a close cooperative security relationship.  And we're in touch with them on a regular basis on those issues, particularly the ones that relate to security.”

However, the press officer said that the US government was not going to be commenting further on the UN investigation report.

“At this point, we're going to withhold judgment on the actual report.”

Asked whether the US maintains its position that the strikes do not violate Pakistan’s sovereignty, he said, “Again, I want to withhold judgment on the actual report in terms of the claims that they're making.  I just want to leave it.”