Pakistan Allowed US Drone Attacks: Cable

Pakistan Allowed US Drone Attacks: Cable

OnIslam & News Agencies

A secret cable revealed that Pakistan's chief of army staff General Ashfaq Kayani asked for continuous US drone coverage over tribal areas.

KABUL – In a revelation that could add to the woes of the embarrassed Pakistani military, secret US cables disclosed that US special forces were embedded with Pakistani troops in intelligence-gathering missions since 2009 summer.

"Through these embeds, we are assisting the Pakistanis collect and coordinate existing intelligence assets," a confidential cable released by WikiLeaks quoted then US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson as saying, Reuters reported Saturday, May 21.

The local Pakistani Dawn newspaper, which said it obtained secret dispatches from the whistle-blowing website, said they revealed that US special forces were deployed with Pakistani troops in joint operations in Pakistan by September of 2009.

Pakistan's powerful military faced mounting domestic criticism after a secret US special forces raid that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the garrison city of Abbottabad, 50 km north of the capital Islamabad, on May 2.

The infuriated army said the assault, which has severely strained ties between the two countries, was a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. 

Several cables showed the United States was eager to embed American troops with Pakistani soldiers.

In the November 2009 cable, Patterson wrote of the possibility that "operations in the northern FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) may provide additional opportunities to embed US Special Operations Forces."

By September 2009, plans for the joint intelligence activities had been expanded to include army headquarters, according to the cables.

"Pakistan has begun to accept intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support from the US military for COIN (counterinsurgency) operations," Patterson wrote.

"Previously, the Pakistani military leadership adamantly opposed letting us embed our special operations personnel with their military forces," said the cable. 

"In addition…intelligence fusion centers" had been established "at the headquarters of Frontier Corps and the 11th Corps and we expect at additional sites, including GHQ (General Headquarters) and the 12th Corps in Balochistan."

The presence of US trainers in Pakistan has been publicly acknowledged, but such joint operations have not.

Anti-American sentiment runs high in Pakistan, while official relations were already fragile after a string of diplomatic disputes over issues including a big attack by a US drone aircraft in March and Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor who shot dead two Pakistanis in the city of Lahore in January.

Drones

Adding to Pakistani embarrassment, another cable showed that Pakistan's top military commander approved a controversial drone campaign against militants, asking for "continuous Predator coverage" over tribal areas.

"(Pakistan's chief of army staff General Ashfaq) Kayani asked if (then commander of US Central Command Admiral William) Fallon could assist in providing continuous Predator coverage of the conflict area," said a cable dated February 11, 2008, referring to the situation in Waziristan.

Predators are the workhorses of the United States' unacknowledged remotely-piloted drone campaign in northwest Pakistan.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed in repeated US drone attacks on Pakistani tribal areas, fuelling anti-American sentiment in Pakistan who condemned the attacks as a blunt violation of its sovereignty.

In the secret cable, Fallon "regretted that he did not have the assets to support this request."

But he offered US personnel to aid Pakistan in command and control for its attack aircraft. 

"The recent approval by GHQ…appears to represent a sea change in Pakistani thinking,” said a 2009 US cable carried by Dawn.

"These deployments are highly politically sensitive…Should receive any coverage in the Pakistani or US media, the Pakistani military will likely stop making requests for such assistance."

Kayani said this offer would "not be politically acceptable."

In a statement, the Pakistan army denied the contents of the cable.

"In the past, there has only been sharing of technical intelligence in some areas," the statement said.

"No armed drone attack support has ever been asked for our operations which have been conducted using own resources."

Publicly, Kayani has often criticized drone strikes, with his strongest objections on March 17 when a US drone strike killed at least 45 people in North Waziristan. 

He called the strike "unjustified and intolerable."