The US Central Intelligence Agency has suspended drone missile strikes on gatherings of low-ranking militants in Pakistan due to tensions with that country, The Los Angeles Times reported. Citing unnamed current and former US officials, the newspaper said late on Friday the undeclared halt in CIA attacks is aimed at reversing a sharp erosion of trust between the two countries.
Some officials in the State Department and the National Security Council say many of the airstrikes are counterproductive, The Times said. They argue that rank-and-file militants are easy to replace, and that Pakistani claims of civilian casualties, which the United States dispute, have destabilised the government of President Asif Ali Zardari.
Some US intelligence officials are urging the CIA to cut back the paramilitary role it has assumed since the September 11, 2001, attacks to refocus on espionage, the paper pointed out. They suggest handing the mission to the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command, which flies its own drones and conducts secret counter-terrorism operations in Yemen and Somalia, The Times noted.