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Pakistan drone strike served CIA revenge
http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-01-081113.htmlPakistan drone strike served CIA revenge
By Gareth Porter
Nov 8, '13
WASHINGTON - After a drone strike had reportedly killed Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud on November 1, the spokesperson for the US National Security Council declared that, if true, it would be "a serious loss" for the terrorist organization.
That reaction accurately reflected the Central Intelligence Agency's argument for the strike. But the back story of the episode is how President Barack Obama supported the parochial interests of the CIA in the drone war over the Pakistani government's effort to try a new political approach to that country's terrorism crisis.
The failure of both drone strikes and Pakistani military operations in the FATA tribal areas to stem the tide of terrorism had led to a decision by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to try a political dialogue with the Taliban.
~snip~
Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan immediately denounced the drone strike that killed Mehsud as "a conspiracy to sabotage the peace talks." He charged that the United States had "scuttled" the initiative "on the eve, 18 hours before a formal delegation of respected ulema (Islamic clerics) was to fly to Miranshah and hand over this formal invitation."