Washington: In a wide-ranging speech on foreign policy on Thursday, US President Barack Obama defended his administration's use of drones to kill terrorists abroad, and in a nod to concerns, outlined plans to limit the use of such strikes.
As described in a White House statement, the key elements of the president's policy for the use of force in counterterrorism operations outside the United States and outside a war zone are as follows:
- The United States will not use lethal force when it is possible to capture a terrorist.
- Lethal force may only be used to prevent or stop attacks against US persons, never as a form of punishment or in lieu of prosecution....
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03:45 AM, May 24, 2013
Washington: President Barack Obama outlined plans on Thursday to limit the use of US drone strikes against extremists abroad and took steps aimed at breaking a deadlock on closing the Guantanamo Bay military prison. In a major foreign policy speech after two weeks of fending off domestic scandals, Obama limited the scope of what his predecessor, George W Bush, had called a global war on terror after the September 11,...
02:46 AM, May 24, 2013
Washington: The US government formally acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that it had killed four Americans, including militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who died in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan. Attorney General Eric Holder named the dead US citizens in a letter to members of Congress a day before President Barack Obama is expected to promise more transparency on national security issues in a speech on counterterrorism. A...
06:48 AM, May 23, 2013
President Barack Obama on February 14 promised to be more forthcoming with the American public on his administration's campaign of lethal drone strikes amid criticism over the targeting of suspected US terrorism suspects abroad. Obama, under pressure from the left and right to allow greater scrutiny of the secret decision-making process for killing Americans overseas, vowed to work with Congress to craft a "mechanism" to be more open about how...
10:53 AM, Feb 15, 2013
CIA Director-designate John Brennan strongly defended anti-terror attacks by unmanned drones on February 7 under close questioning at a protest-disrupted confirmation hearing. On a second controversial topic, he said that after reading a classified intelligence report on harsh interrogation techniques, he does not know if waterboarding has yielded useful information. ...
12:05 PM, Feb 08, 2013
London: The Pakistani Taliban has offered protection to Imran Khan who is scheduled to hold a peace march in the violence-prone tribal areas on Sunday, it was reported in London. Imran Khan, a former cricketer, now heads the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. His rallies have witnessed a massive participation. The Pakistani Taliban's senior commanders said a meeting headed by the group's leader Hakimullah Mehsud set aside earlier instructions to send suicide bombers...
05:01 PM, Oct 02, 2012
Islamabad: A US drone targeted a militant compound in the restive North Waziristan tribal region, killing at least 21 insurgents in the first such attack since Pakistan reopened NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. The CIA-operated spy plane fired two missiles at the compound in Datta Khel area near the Afghan border on Friday evening. TV news channels quoted their sources as saying that 21 militants were killed. Foreign fighters were...
04:15 PM, Jul 07, 2012
Islamabad: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that US President Barack Obama is using drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal regions for political motives, Xinhua reported. Gilani's statement came on Sunday, a day after Obama reportedly ordered a "sharp increase" in drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas in recent months. "The United States is into the election year and Obama's decision has been aimed at gaining political mileage," said Gilani...
09:14 AM, Jun 11, 2012
Islamabad: Pakistan on Monday summoned a senior US diplomat to protest against a drone strike that killed four militants in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. Political Counsellor Jonathan Pratt of the US Embassy was summoned to the Foreign Office, where the Director General (Americas) registered a protest over Saturday's drone attack, Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Khan said. Sources said a demarche was handed over to Pratt. A similar protest was...
10:15 PM, Apr 30, 2012
New York: After a year of deteriorating relations between US and Pakistan, American officials are gearing up for a 'limited' counter-terrorism alliance with Islamabad that will include restricted drone strikes against militants and a reduced aid, a media report reported on Monday. "With the US facing the reality that its broad security partnership with Pakistan is over, American officials are seeking to salvage a more limited counter-terrorism alliance that they...
12:10 PM, Dec 26, 2011
Perth: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has categorically said no permission has been given to the US to launch drone strikes inside Pakistan's territory. "There is no such permission," the Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Gilani as telling a group of Pakistani expatriates on Saturday. According to reports, at least 55-60 drone strikes have taken place in Pakistan in 2011. Over 460 people, most of them believed to be...
12:45 PM, Oct 30, 2011
Islamabad: Around 2,000 Pakistani tribesmen led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan protested outside parliament on Friday to demand the immediate halting of US drone strikes, claiming they kill more civilians than militants. Tribesmen from North Waziristan tribal region and workers of Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party marched on a key road leading to parliament house and shouted slogans against the US. The protestors carried banners and placards that denounced the missile strikes...
10:45 PM, Oct 28, 2011
Islamabad: About 775 civilians, including 173 children were killed in 300 strikes carried out by US spy planes in Pakistan tribal regions since they were started in June 2004, a report has said. The report says between 1,141 and 1,225 persons were also injured by the drone strikes, mostly in Waziristan tribal areas near the Afghan border, Dawn newspaper quoted a report released by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism....
10:59 PM, Oct 16, 2011
Dera Ismail Khan (Pakistan): Intelligence officials say a recent US missile strike in Pakistan's tribal region killed three Egyptians linked to the Haqqani militant network. The officials say the three were killed on Friday when missiles struck a car near Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan. A fourth person was also killed but has not been identified. The officials said on Sunday that one of the Egyptians was...
04:44 PM, Oct 16, 2011
Islamabad: Twenty suspected militants were killed in two US drone strikes in the restive South Waziristan tribal region of northwest Pakistan on Monday. In the first attack, a drone targeted a vehicle, killing eight suspects militants in Shawal area of South Waziristan Agency. Another drone strike several hours later in Mantoi area, about 30 km from South Waziristan's main town of Wana, killed 12 suspected militants. The drones fired four...
03:32 AM, Jun 28, 2011
Islamabad: At least 18 suspected militants have been killed in three drone strikes in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, a media report said. Dawn News said that four missiles hit a vehicle carrying the suspected militants some 10 km east of Miranshah, the headquarters of the North Waziristan area, on Wednesday. All eight people in the vehicle were killed. Ten more people were killed on Wednesday when drones targeted two houses...
09:25 AM, Jun 16, 2011
Islamabad: An unmanned US aircraft on Tuesday fired four missiles into two compounds in Pakistan's tribal region near the Afghan border, killing seven people, security officials said. The attack raised the death toll to 25 from drone airstrikes within 24 hours against suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda hideouts. An intelligence official said the drone fired two missiles at each compound Tuesday in the Ghulam Khan village near Miran Shah, the...
03:05 PM, Dec 28, 2010
