US likely to resume drone strikes in Pak under new conditions

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is likely to resume drone strikes that were apparently halted following the deadly November 26, 2011 NATO airstrike on Pakistan’s border posts.

Sources told The Express Tribune that Pakistan and the United States have almost agreed on ‘fresh terms of engagements’ to resume the drone attacks to target suspected al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan’s tribal areas, including North and South Waziristan.

They added that Pakistan has convinced the US to resume the drone strikes under two new conditions- the drone strikes should not be as frequent as they had been in the past  and the CIA should narrow the stripe to be targeted by the aircraft under  the ‘box formation’ military approach.

“We don’t want them to be that frequent … it creates problems for us by invoking public anger,” the official added.

The deadly aircraft, which was earlier operated from the CIA’s Langley headquarters in McClean, Virginia would now take -off from American airbases in Afghanistan, an official said.

The Bagram airbase, which is located just outside the Afghan capital Kabul might be the new launch pad for drone attacks in the future, the official added.