Former US intel chief calls for end to drone strikes

WASHINGTON: For months officials in Pakistan have been demanding an end to CIA drone strikes in the country, and the brokering of a new relationship that would make them equal partners in the pursuit of terrorist groups.

Now they have an unlikely ally in their demands, the former director of US intelligence agencies, Dennis C Blair. Speaking at a conference in Aspen, Colorado, this week, Blair said the Obama administration should suspend the drone campaign, and resume firing missiles only in cases when there is agreement from Pakistan.

"We should offer to the Pakistanis to put two hands on the trigger," Blair said, arguing that unilateral attacks have undermined American standing abroad and badly damaged the US relationship with Pakistan.

Blairís prescription comes at a time when many senior US intelligence officials credit the sustained drone campaign, as well as the killing of Osama bin Laden, with bringing al-Qaeda to the brink of collapse.

But, Blair said his view is based in part on a belief that the United States is at a turning point in the fight against al-Qaeda and like-minded groups. The drone strikes and other counter-terror measures have effectively stripped al-Qaeda and its affiliates of their ability to execute out large-scale plots.

But ìby having that [drone] campaign dominate our overall relationshipÖwe are following a policy that cannot take us from that second layer of small attacks down to no attacks,î Blair said. Only deeper cooperation with Pakistan and other countries can do that, he said.

Blair didn't say whether he had advocated such a position while still serving as Director of National Intelligence, before he was abruptly fired by President Obama last year. Blair said the United States is spending $20 billion a year to go after an enemy that has about 4,000 people in its ranks.