Drone attacks will continue in Pakistan, says US | WPN World People News

A frustrated US government has accorded sanction to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to resume "aggressive" drone strikes in Pakistan, a move that may have been disapproved in the past fearing Islamabad's anger, according to a report.

The Los Angeles Times in a Kabul datelined story quoted an unnamed "senior US official" as saying the US attitude now is like "what do we have to lose" if drone strikes to target militants hiding in Pakistan are increased.

The CIA has launched eight drone attacks since May 21 when Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari was invited to attend the NATO summit in Chicago.

Zardari at the NATO meet refused to reopen crucial halted routes used to supply US troops in Afghanistan as Washington had hoped.

A US think tank, the New America Foundation, which tracks drone attacks in Pakistan, said the CIA had conducted 14 strikes on targets in Pakistan's tribal belt in the previous five-and-a-half months.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made it clear that the relations with Pakistan were deteriorating as the Washington was "reaching the limits of our patience" because insurgents continue to carry out deadly attacks on US troops with Islamabad failing to curb them.

"It is difficult to achieve peace in Afghanistan as long as there is safe haven for terrorists in Pakistan," Panetta told reporters in Kabul on the last stop of his nine-day trip to Asia. He made it clear that the drone strikes will continue.

Top US senator Lindsey Graham, known for his radical views, also said such strikes will continue.

"The drone attacks will continue. They must continue to deal with the threats in the tribal region, the ungoverned part of Pakistan," Graham was quoted as saying in a separate media report.

Graham said Al Qaeda and the Taliban "seek refuge" in Pakistan's tribal region.

"These attacks coming out of Afghanistan are not attacks on the Pakistani people. They are attacks on terrorists who want to undermine us, kill our soldiers and also undermine Pakistan."

Source: Southeast Asia News.Net