Washington: The US military, fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, treat the terrorist safe havens in Pakistan's FATA "as part of the war theatre" with Islamabad giving tacit nod for CIA-operated drones to strike terror targets within 81 km inside the country's territory, a media report said today.
"Al Qaeda and Taliban havens in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the border are considered part of the Afghanistan war theater," The Washington Post quoted senior Obama administration and military officials as saying.
The Pakistani government tacitly permits CIA-operated
unmanned aircraft to target terrorist sites and militants up
to 50 miles (nearly 81 km) inside the country, it said.
Under an executive order first signed by Bush and
continued in force under Obama, the CIA does not have to seek
higher administration authority before striking, the report
said.
Outside the established war zones, senior administration
and military officials said, how an operation is conducted and
whether its goal is killing or capturing depend on where it is
taking place and in which US agency is involved.
Drones have reportedly eliminated one man from the US
list of most-wanted terrorists, Baitullah Mehsud, the
ruthless leader of the Pakistani Taliban, who carried a USD 5
million bounty on his head.
The report noted that over the past year, President
Barack Obama has escalated US attacks on the leadership of
al Qaeda and its allies around the globe. The result has been
dozens of targeted killings and no reports of high-value
detentions.
Although senior administration officials say that no
policy determination has been made to emphasise kills over
captures, several factors appear to have tipped the balance in
that direction.
The Obama administration has authorised such attacks
more frequently than the George W. Bush administration did in
its final years, including in countries where US ground operations are officially unwelcome or especially dangerous.
Improvements in electronic surveillance and precision
targeting have made killing from a distance much more of a
sure thing. At the same time, options for where to keep U.S.
captives have dwindled, the report said.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, February 14, 2010, 21:01