Context
According to media reports, Pakistan has offered the US a new modus operandi on the operation of drones in the tribal regions.
According to the new mechanism, US and Pakistan will exchange information on the identification of targets, but Pakistani authorities will be subsequently responsible for taking action against the targets. Moreover, US can use the drones to monitor the operations conducted by Pakistan.
Pakistan’ s Director General for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-General Zaheerul Islam is expected to visit US in the near future and meet with his American counterpart. Matters related to counter-terrorism operations and the drone strikes are likely to be discussed, including the possibility of the transfer of drone technology to Pakistan.
US drones have also supported Turkish military efforts against Kurd rebels since 2007. This is when US established a Combined Intelligence Fusion Cell to jointly monitor live drone feeds. The cooperation was stepped up over the last year as US moved a squadron of Predators from a base in Iraq to Turkey’s Incirlik airbase.
The US-Turkish drone cooperation could serve as a model to resolve US-Pakistan tensions on the use of drones in FATA. Turkey, a NATO member, is trying to acquire armed drones from the US and has stated that Turkey can be trusted with the technology.
