US will no longer report drone-strike deaths in countries like Pakistan
March 07, 2019 21:04
President Donald Trump has revoked an Obama-era policy that required the United States government publish an annual report on the number of civilians killed in drone strikes on high-value terrorists in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia.
The 2016 executive order was brought in by then-President Barack Obama, who was under pressure to be more transparent on drone strikes carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Since the 9/11 Al Qaeda terror attack, drone strikes have been increasingly used against terror and military targets.
The Trump administration said the 2016 rule was 'superfluous' and distracting.
The order applied to the CIA, which has been carrying out drone strikes in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia.
The CIA-operated drone strikes in Pakistan have killed top terrorists like Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor in 2016, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud in 2009 and Hakimullah Mehsud, TTP chief, in 2013.
Khalid Mehsud, the TTP deputy chief was killed in a US drone strike in 2018 Pakistan's North Waziristan. -- PTI
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