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Drones cannot be given to Pakistan: NYT
NEW YORK: The Obama administration has provided Pakistan with
surveillance information obtained from the drone aircraft but has
resisted sharing detailed information about how the drones operate,
the New York Times said on Thursday.
“This is technology we haven’t given to our closest allies — the
Brits or the Australians or Nato,” said one senior American
official, who is working on Pakistan issues, according to the NYT
report.
The report said: “The United States military for the first time has
provided Pakistan with a broad array of surveillance information
collected by American drones flying along the border of Pakistan and
Afghanistan, American military officials said.
“But it is not clear whether the cooperation will continue. While
American military drones flew a handful of noncombat surveillance
missions along the border earlier this spring at the request of the
Pakistani government, requests for additional flights abruptly
stopped without explanation, the officials said.
“The offer to give Pakistan a much larger amount of imagery,
including real-time video feeds and communication intercepts gleaned
by remotely piloted aircraft, was intended to help defuse a growing
dispute over how to use the drones and which country should control
the secret missions flown in Pakistani airspace, officials said.
“The American intelligence operatives who fly the armed drones
inside Pakistan remain opposed to joint operations with Pakistani
intelligence services, pointing out that past attempts were a
failure. Several years ago, American officials gave Pakistan advance
word of planned Predator attacks, but stopped the practice after the
information leaked to militants.
“American military officials said on Wednesday that there was no
plan to allow the military to join the CIA in operating armed drones
inside Pakistan. They disputed a report in The Los Angeles Times on
Tuesday that said Pakistan had been given joint control of armed
American military drones inside Pakistan. Obama administration
officials are vigorously resisting sharing the drone technology with
Pakistani security forces, but officials from both countries said
compromises were possible.”
“In mid-March, the American military in Afghanistan flew a
demonstration mission of a Predator drone along a stretch of the
Afghanistan-Pakistan border to show the kind of imagery and
communications information the Predator could provide. The Americans
transmitted the information to a border coordination centre near the
Khyber Pass operated by American, Pakistani and Afghan personnel,
and the information was sent through Pakistani security databases.
“The test run went well enough that Pakistan subsequently requested
a small number of additional Predator reconnaissance flights to
support their operations in the border tribal areas. “But American
officials said the requests for additional surveillance missions
ended suddenly in early April. There was no reason given, it just
stopped, said one senior American defence official. American
officials suggested that the change could be the result of internal
divisions in the Pakistani military over how closely to cooperate
with the Americans on intelligence.
“Infusing this debate is a continuing suspicion by American
intelligence officials of the premier Pakistani spy agency, the
Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI. Because the
Predators, and now an even more sophisticated drone called the
Reaper, have been among the most successful weapons against Qaeda
and other militant leaders, there is deep concern that any
information about the drones’ operating patterns, blind spots, and
takeoff and landing locations could be leaked to the insurgents and
used to take down the drones.”
The News: Friday, May 15, 2009
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