US-Pakistani regime collaboration on assasination drones to continue

US President Barack Obama’s rule book for institutionalizing assassination drones in different countries is reportedly nearing completion but it still authorizes the CIA to freely continue attacks in Pakistan.

The classified manual, called a counterterrorism “playbook,” sets out stringent rules with regard to US targeted killings, but it incorporates a carve-out that would allow the CIA to continue bombing suspected militants in Pakistan for “less than two years but more than one,” the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

US officials claim that the reason behind excluding Pakistan is that the current strategy has weakened pro-Taliban militants in the Asian country.

However, Pakistani sources say while US assassination drones have killed nearly 3,000 civilians since 2004, they could have only targeted less than 200 militants over the period.

The US officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Washington Post that a few minor issues remain unresolved but the document is expected to be submitted to Obama for final approval within weeks.

The rule book, among other things, details the process of adding names to Washington’s “kill list.”

Obama has been reportedly approving the names put on the kill list used in the targeted killing operations carried out by US assassination drones.

Every week or so, more than 100 members of the US national security team gather via secure video teleconference run by the Pentagon and go over the biographies of suspects in Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan, and “nominate” those who should be targeted in the attacks.

Obama is then provided with the identities of those put on the kill list and signs off on every strike in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia as well as in Pakistan.