In a story bylined by Christopher Szabo in Digital Journal|World he reports that the U.S. has offered Pakistan control of numerous overflights involving both the Predator and the more powerful Reaper UAVs and at least two flights under Pakistani direction have been flown.
The new operation is aimed at bolstering Pakistan’s ability to disrupt the militant cells in the north west of the country. The Los Angeles Times reports that the new operation — officially still secret — gives Pakistani officers important areas of control over the Predator UAV, whereby they control the decision to launch attacks. The new partnership is based in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, near the key Khyber Pass that forms the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The U.S. Department of Defense drones are flown under the direction of Pakistani officers working with American counterparts in the center.
Pakistan has not used the drones in the ongoing offensive in the Swat region of the country. Joint operations using the U.S. drones have only been used for surveillance by Pakistan so far and U.S. officials have been frustrated at what they see as a lack of aggressiveness on the part of the Pakistanis. Nonetheless, they would allow them to use the drones as long as the two partners agreed on the targets. The L.A. Times quoted a senior American officer saying, “It is their decision. We are trying to put them in the chain, so they control the whole thing, save the hardware.” The Pakistanis, on their part, argued that it was not easy to kill their own people. The officer added, “They have asked us to try and understand what it is like to be a military that is now required to go against its own people. I do not think we always have the right perspective of how difficult it is. This new agreement is a major step forward. Unlike the CIA, the U.S. military has to follow guidelines that are in line with the various conventions covering armed conflict, as does the Pakistani military.
