The US and Pakistani governments have reached a tacit agreement on Predator (drone) strikes into Pakistani territory, under which Islamabad allows them while continuing to complain about them and Washington never acknowledges them, The Washington Post revealed in a report Sunday.
Pakistan, however, rejected the report as false and baseless. The paper claimed that both the countries reached the deal some time in September in a “don’t-ask-don’t-tell” policy to attack suspected terrorist targets in northern Pakistan.”
Citing unnamed senior officials in both the countries, the newspaper went on to say that under this policy, unmanned US drones have fired missiles at Pakistani soil at an average rate of once every four or five days recently. The deal coincided with a suspension of ground assaults on Pakistan by the US special forces, the Post said.
The paper also quoted President Asif Ali Zardari who in an interview last week had said that he was aware of no ground attacks except one on September 3, which his government had vigorously protested.
A senior Pakistani official, however, said the US-Pakistan understanding over the airstrikes was “the smart middle way for the moment,” The Post further reported. “Former President Musharraf,” the paper quoted an official as saying, “gave lip service but not effective support” to the Americans. “This government is delivering but not taking the credit.”
From December to August, when Musharraf stepped down, there have been six US drone strikes in Pakistan, according to The Post. Since August, however, there have been at least 19. The most recent occurred on Friday, when local officials and witnesses said at least 11 people, including six foreigners were killed, The Washington Post added.
Talking to the Washington Post, the officials on anonymity described the deal as one in which the US government refused to publicly acknowledge the attacks while Pakistan’s government continues to complain noisily about the politically sensitive strikes.
A senior Pakistani official said that although the attacks contributed to widespread public anger in Pakistan, anti-Americanism there is closely associated with President Bush. Citing a potentially more favourable popular view of President-elect Barack Obama, he said that “maybe with a new administration, public opinion will be more pro-American and we can start acknowledging” more cooperation.
In his interview, Zardari, however, had said that he received “no prior notice” of the airstrikes and that he disapproved of them. But he said he gave the Americans “the benefit of the doubt” that their intention was to target the Afghan side of the ill-defined, mountainous border of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), even if that is not where the missiles landed.
According to the Post, Zardari said the civilian deaths remained a problem. “If the damage is women and children, then the sensitivity of its effect increases,” he said. The US “point of view” he said, was that the attacks were “good for everybody. Our point of view is that it is not good for our position of winning the hearts and minds of people.”
Contrasting Zardari with his predecessor, Gen (R) Pervez Musharraf, the official said Musharraf “gave lip service but not effective support” to the Americans.
According to the Washington Post, Pakistan’s self-praise is not entirely echoed by the US officials, who remain suspicious of ties between Pakistan’s intelligence service and Fata-based extremists. But the Bush administration has muted its criticism of Pakistan.
In a speech to the Atlantic Council last week, CIA Director Michael V Hayden effusively praised Pakistan’s recent military operations, including “tough fighting against hardened militants” in the northern Fata region of Bajaur.
“Throughout Fata,” Hayden said, “Al-Qaeda and its allies are feeling less secure today than they did two, three or six months ago. It has become difficult for them to ignore significant losses in their ranks.”
Last month, officials confirmed, Predator strikes in Fata killed Khalid Khubaib, described as al-Qaeda’s No. 4 official, and senior operatives Abu Jihad al-Masri and Abu Hassan al-Rimi. Three other senior al-Qaeda figures — explosives expert Abu Khabab al-Masri, Abu Sulayman al-Jazairi and senior commander Abu Laith al-Libi — were killed during the first nine months of the year.
Hayden acknowledged, however, that al-Qaeda remained a “determined, adaptive enemy,” operating from a “safe haven” in the tribal areas. Along with the stepped-up Predator attacks, the newspaper reported, the Bush administration strategy included showering Pakistan’s new leaders with close, personal attention. Zardari met Bush during the UN General Assembly in September, and senior military and intelligence officials have exchanged near-constant visits over the past few months.
Pakistan’s new intelligence chief, Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, also flew to Washington in late October, and Gen David H Petraeus, installed on Oct 31 as head of the US Central Command, visited Islamabad on his third day in office. On Wednesday, Hayden flew to New York for a secret visit with Zardari, who was attending a UN conference.
The paper quoted Zardari as saying, “We think we need a new dialogue, and we’re hoping that the new government will … understand that Pakistan has done more than they recognise” and is a victim of the same insurgency the United States is fighting. Pakistan hopes that a $7.6 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, announced Saturday, would spark new international investment and aid, the newspaper further said.
Pakistan, whose military has received more than $10 billion in direct US payments since 2001, also wants the United States to provide sophisticated weapons to its armed forces. The paper further quoted a senior Pakistani official as stating: “Rather than using US Predator-fired missiles against Pakistani territory why not give Pakistan its own Predators? Give them to us … We are your allies.”
Current and former US counterterrorism officials said improved intelligence has been an important factor in the increased tempo and precision of the Predator strikes. Over the past year, they said, the United States has been able to improve its network of informants in the border region while also fielding new hardware that allows close tracking of the movements of the suspected militants.
The missiles are fired from unmanned aircraft by the CIA. But the drones are only part of a diverse network of machines and software used by the agency to spot terrorism suspects and follow their movements, the officials said.
The equipment, much of which remains highly classified, includes an array of powerful sensors mounted on satellites, airplanes, blimps and drones of every size and shape. Two former senior intelligence officials familiar with the use of the Predator in Pakistan said the rift between Islamabad and Washington over the unilateral attacks was always less than it seemed. “By killing al-Qaeda, you’re helping Pakistan’s military and you’re disrupting attacks that could be carried out in Karachi and elsewhere,” said an official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, the Washington Post further said.
Pakistan’s new acquiescence coincided with the new government there and a sharp increase in domestic terrorist attacks, including the September bombing of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad. “The attacks inside Pakistan have changed minds,” the official said. “These guys are worried, as they should be.”
Online adds from Islamabad: The Foreign Office strongly rejected any secret deal between the governments of Pakistan and the United States over the Predator attacks in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) as reported by the Washington Post on Sunday.
FO spokesman Muhammad Sadiq Khan said the news items published by the US media were totally false and baseless. Talking to a private TV channel, Sadiq termed the news about a secret deal between Islamabad and Washington as fabricated. He said there was no importance of such news in Pakistan.