US ‘determined’ to carry out drone attacks on ‘actionable’ targets despite Pak opposition

ISLAMABAD - Despite a senior Pakistani security official warning that a surge in US drone attacks in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas “would be a risky step,” the US is determined to “take action against terrorists and their networks when opportunities present themselves”.

“If the Americans step up the (drone) attacks at what they suspect are locations of Haqqani’s men inside Pakistan, that would be a risky step. The Americans cannot simply go by assumptions. First, all the facts must be ascertained,” one security official in Peshawar told the Financial Times,” The Nation quoted a senior Pakistani officer, as saying.

Thursday’s suicide attack on a CIA base in Khost attack was linked by some US officials to a network created by Jalaluddin Haqqani, who is believed to be close to the Taliban.

Reacting to the Pakistani warning, a US State Department official said: “It should be clear that we stand ready to take action against terrorists and their networks when opportunities present themselves. Our counter-terrorist efforts are coordinated with foreign governments, including with Pakistan, as needed.”

So far, Pakistan had neither been consulted by the US for information following the Khost attack nor has Pakistan volunteered any information.

“Our position is very clear. We are not connected to anyone who seeks to target the US in Afghanistan. We have a carefully built alliance with the US, we can’t afford to disturb or indeed disrupt that,” an official in the NWFP government said. (ANI)