report: Pakistan secretly endorsed US drone program

[CougarKing]

Perhaps they're just paying lip service to both the Pakistani public and to the US government, so to not inflame the more militant elements of the public at home while at the same time keeping the nominal alliance with Washington...

Military.com

Report: Pakistan Secretly Endorsed Drone Program

Oct 24, 2013

Pakistani officials publicly demand an end to U.S. drone strikes but have secretly endorsed them for years, a Washington Post report says, citing CIA documents.

The Post said the "top-secret" CIA files and Pakistani diplomatic memos show that while Pakistan's government -- as recently as Wednesday -- demanded an end to drone strikes in Pakistan it has been backing the program for years and routinely received classified briefings on strikes and casualty counts.

The latest demand that the program stop came from Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who met with U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday in Washington. Sharif said the drone strikes "have deeply disturbed and agitated our people" and that the issue has become a major irritant in Pakistan-U.S. relations.

The Post said the documents describe dozens of drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal region and include maps and before-and-after aerial photos of targeted compounds from 2007 to late 201 when the campaign was at its peak.

The report said the documents' markings indicate that "many of them were prepared by the CIA Counter-terrorism Center specifically to be shared with Pakistan's government

(...)

 

[jollyjacktar]

They betray everyone, even their own.  Losers.

 

[jeffb]

Anyone who stops to think about this for a second would realize that of course Pakistan gave approval for strikes within their territory. Pakistan is a US ally and the US does not just kill civilians, albeit unintentionally, in the countries of its allies. Pakistan is a nuclear power and to do so would be an act of war. This is a win-win for the Pakistan government. On the one hand they get to take advantage of US military technology in the killing of annoying fundamentalists while on the other hand using their "opposition" to the strikes to buttress themselves from criticism against the more radical Islamist element in the country. Ultimately, this is not a bad thing for the US however as it would be a disaster to loose Pakistan, and it's aforementioned nuclear weapons, to a terror group such as the Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) or any of the other host of groups that ply their trade in this area.