CIA's director Leon Panetta said on Wednesday that US Predator attacks against extremists inside Pakistan would continue despite concerns about a popular backlash.
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Although he refused to discuss details, Panetta said that the efforts begun under President George W Bush to destabilise Al Qaeda and destroy its leadership "have been successful".
The CIA has launched about three dozen Predator strikes in Pakistan since late last summer, two of them during the Obama administration.
Panetta's comments came as Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi called for letting Pakistan call the shots. Qureshi and his Afghan counterpart are in Washington for unprecedented consultations with President Obama's administration to help with a review of the US strategy in the region. The talks were arranged during the first overseas trip of special US envoy Richard Holbrooke.
"We have two goals," a senior administration official said. One is to receive their input for the ongoing strategy review. "But it's also to hear commitments -- the Pakistanis on taking on terrorists themselves, and the Afghans on cleaning up their government."
The difference between the Obama and Bush administrations, Qureshi said, is that "the present administration is willing to listen. They are very frank. They're saying, 'We do not have a magic formula. . . . Let Pakistan, let the US, let Afghanistan -- let's all stick together and find a solution."
Panetta said he had voiced concerns about Pakistan's truce with local Taliban leaders in Swat region, and noted that similar agreements with militant groups in the past had allowed Al Qaeda to strengthen its base. "They assured me that this is not the same as past agreements", Panetta said. "I remain sceptical." |