An end to drone strikes in Pakistan?
04 August 2013 - SACC
During his recent visit to Pakistan, US Secretary of State John Kerry seemed to promise an end to drone strikes
Asked on Pakistani TV if the United States had a "timeline" for ending the drone strikes in Pakistan, Mr. Kerry said: "Well, I do. And I think the president has a very real timeline, and we hope it's going to be very, very soon." But he did not say what the timeline was.
Kerry's personal timeline doesn't matter very much. Neither do his thoughts on Obama's timeline. But just to clear, a later statement from the State Department said "today, the secretary referenced the changes that we expect to take place in that program over the course of time, but there is no exact timeline to provide."
In other words, John Kerry was just trying to be polite to his hosts.
Meanwhile, drone strikes on Pakistani continue to kill people and terrorise whole communities.
Drone attacks are also fuelling terrorism and sectarian violence in Pakistan. In June 11 people were killed at Nanga Parbat base camp in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan area in an attack that was said to be in retaliation against drone strikes. on 28 July at least 57 people, mainly Shia, were killed in a terrorist bomb attack on a market in Parachinar, near the border with Afghanistan. The attack was said to be a response to drone attacks and also to the killing of Sunnis in Iraq and Syria.