WASHINGTON: The CIA’s expanding operations in Pakistan have taken “a serious toll” on the Al-Qaeda network, the spy agency director, Leon Panetta, has told US media.
But he said it remained unclear whether the effort had prevented a possible terror plot against European cities, the Los Angeles Times quoted him as saying Tuesday.
Referring to stepped up operations, Panetta said the effort is “taking a serious toll” on Al-Qaeda’s capabilities. “The basis for that increased pace is intelligence, weather and also just the threat streams we’re getting on potential attacks in Europe,” Panetta said.
The CIA has been able to ramp up the pace of operations because of “additional capabilities,” Panetta said, referring to “more hardware. The president’s been very supportive, obviously, of this operation.” He added that Pakistan’s intelligence service “has been very cooperative.”
