The US Central Intelligence Agency has suspended drone missile strikes on gatherings of low-ranking militants in Pakistan due to tensions with the country, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Citing unnamed current and former US officials, the newspaper said late Friday the undeclared halt in CIA attacks is aimed at reversing a sharp erosion of trust between the two countries.
The pause in the missile strikes comes amid an intensifying debate in the administration of US President Barack Obama over the future of the CIA’s covert drone war in Pakistan, the paper said. The CIA has killed dozens of al Qaeda operatives and hundreds of low-ranking fighters there since the first Predator strike in 2004, but the program has infuriated many Pakistanis, the report noted.
Some officials in the State Department and the National Security Council say many of the airstrikes are counterproductive, The Times said.
