A powerful US Senator has said the drone attacks in Pakistan's lawless Waziristan tribal region would continue as the strikes have put Al-Qaeda on the run and killed 14 of the 20 top leaders of the terror outfit.
A powerful US Senator has said the drone attacks in Pakistan's lawless Waziristan tribal region would continue as the strikes have put Al-Qaeda on the run and killed 14 of the 20 top leaders of the terror outfit.
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"I am convinced that it (drone attacks) is highly circumscribed now, very carefully controlled within a hierarchy of decision-making, significantly limited in its collateral damage, and profoundly successful in the impact it has had in putting al Qaeda on the run," Democratic Senator John Kerry said.
He said 14 of the 20 top Al-Qaeda leaders have been eliminated in the strikes in the tribal region and that the drone attacks would continue.
"And it is why al Qaeda is, to some degree, on the run and defensive. And I think it's important for people to know that they are," Kerry, who is the co-architect of the USD 7.5 billion non-military aid to Pakistan, said.
"That doesn't mean they're not dangerous and that they're not plotting. As I said earlier, we know we interrupted a plot right on the eve of September 11th of this year, and it's why Yemen and Somalia and other parts of the world are still going to require our vigilance and our diligence," he said.
Pakistan has been opposing to drone attacks in the region, saying it infringed its sovereignty. Over 400 militants have killed in drone attacks in the past one year.
Responding to a question after his speech on Afghanistan at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington- based think-tank, Kerry said Pakistan can become an epicenter of terrorism, if steps are not taken now.
"This can become the epicentre: the Hakkani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Islamic Jihad -- the various groups that are there, and the hedges that still take place because of the India and Pakistan relationship that has not yet transformed to modernity. There are realities that we have to continue to deal with," Kerry said.
"So I think we just have to be judicious and careful, and we are trying to be," he said. He also favoured more financial assistance to Pakistan.
"If we were to put much more effort into their ability to transition to make Waziristan a success, Swat Valley a success and, ultimately, to actually incorporate the western part of their country more formally into the nation than it has been at any time in the nation's existence, then we have a better chance of limiting al Qaeda and protecting our interests," he said.
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