US URGED TO STOP DRONE STRIKES IN PAKISTAN

Former US intelligence chief Dennis Blair on July 29 said the US should stop its drone campaign in Pakistan, and reconsider the $80 billion a year it spends to fight terrorism. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, Blair said the CIA’s unmanned aircraft operation aimed at Al-Qaeda is backfiring by damaging the US-Pakistan relationship. The former director of national intelligence suggests giving Pakistan more say in what gets hit by drone strikes and when. Blair said the continuing drone strikes are more of a nuisance than a real threat to Al-Qaeda, and that only a ground campaign by Pakistan would truly threaten it and other militant organisations. “It can sustain its level of resistance to an air-only campaign,” he said.