President Barack Obama has ordered a sharp increase in drone strikes against suspected terrorists in Pakistan in recent months, anticipating Pakistan may soon bar such CIA operations launched from its territory, two US officials said.
Obama’s decision reflects mounting US frustration with Pakistan over a growing list of disputes – mirrored by Pakistani grievances with the US – that have soured relations and weakened security cooperation.
The US is withholding at least $3 billion in reimbursements for counterinsurgency operations and security-related funding, according to congressional aides and Pakistani officials, Bloomberg said.
In more than a dozen interviews, diplomats from both nations said they were trying to repair rifts that had sent relations to the lowest point in two decades, while military and intelligence officials were less sanguine about building trust.
At stake are billions of dollars in US funding for an ally in financial crisis, and American influence with a nuclear-armed power as US forces pull out of neighboring Afghanistan.
US officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they expected Pakistan may order the CIA to vacate the remaining airbase from which it flies Predators to target militants sheltered in Pakistan’s tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
The US has conducted drone attacks since 2004 with the tacit approval of authorities in Islamabad. Pakistan’s parliament and leaders are now demanding an end to the strikes, calling them a violation of the country’s sovereignty.
The Obama administration is so frustrated by what it regards as Pakistan’s unwillingness to crack down on certain militant groups and resolve other issues – such as frozen NATO supply lines to Afghanistan – that it is prepared to accept aid cuts pending in Congress and to cultivate closer relations with India, Pakistan’s longtime rival, US officials said.
US and Pakistani officials said they were trying to reach an accommodation on the two most serious disagreements: the drone operation and military supply routes. Most spoke on condition of anonymity to be candid about the tensions in an alliance that has fallen to its lowest point since 1990.
“This relationship is sinking but has yet to reach the bottom,” said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst who led a White House review of US policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan when Obama first took office.