one of two explanations:
1. the pakistanis have the americans by the short and curlies because of the logistics issue for afghanistan
2. the yanks were always in on the whole taliban (=ISI) charade. they have been doing a "milady doth protest too much" kind of thing. remember what happened in kunduz. (see my old column http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/nov/30rajeev.htm)
both are grave and frightening possibilities.
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Extract from Feinstein comment on U.S. drones likely to embarrass Pakistan February 13, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- A senior U.S. lawmaker said Thursday that unmanned CIA Predator aircraft operating in Pakistan are flown from an air base in that country, a revelation likely to embarrass the Pakistani government and complicate its counter-terrorism collaboration with the United States.
The disclosure by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, marked the first time a U.S. official had publicly commented on where the Predator aircraft patrolling Pakistan take off and land.
At a hearing, Feinstein expressed surprise over Pakistani opposition to the campaign of Predator-launched CIA missile strikes against Islamic extremist targets along Pakistan's northwestern border.
"As I understand it, these are flown out of a Pakistani base," she said.
The basing of the pilotless aircraft in Pakistan suggests a much deeper relationship with the United States on counter-terrorism matters than has been publicly acknowledged. Such an arrangement would be at odds with protests lodged by officials in Islamabad, the capital, and could inflame anti-American sentiment in the country.
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