WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s policy towards drone strikes faced severe criticism in the US Senate where a senior lawmaker accused Islamabad of duality, claiming that while it quietly approved the attacks publicly it censured America for carrying them out.

‘I wish they’d tell their public about their support of our operations instead of attacking us for them,’ said Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Pakistan’s attitude ‘just creates propaganda fodder for the very people who are out to destroy us and them’, he added.

The senator was responding to remarks by Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told the panel that Pakistan not only approved the drone attacks, it also had an arrangement with the United States that allowed Islamabad to receive data collected by the unmanned aircraft.

‘In terms of support and information, they have asked for that, and where they’ve asked for that, we’ve supported them,’ the admiral told the committee.

Admiral Mullen also urged the lawmakers to support Pakistan’s efforts to defeat the militants.

‘We can and should support their cause — assuming it is aligned with ours, of course, and if they make their case openly and clearly to their public,’ Senator Levin responded.

The Senate panel held a special hearing on Pakistan on Thursday, reviewing the Pentagon’s request for more funds to enhance Islamabad’s capability to combat the militants.

Next year’s Pentagon budget includes $700 million to train and otherwise help Pakistan fight the insurgents based in the NWFP and the tribal areas.

Senators questioned the Obama administration’s decision to send millions of dollars to Pakistan without assurances it will only be spent to fight extremists. The hearing highlighted the uneasy relationship between the US and Pakistan, as lawmakers urged Pakistan to focus on that extremist threat instead of India.

Admiral Mullen told senators that it’s still unclear that Pakistani leaders could shift their focus away from India even if they acknowledged that militants posed a greater threat to their security. 

NUCLEAR ARSENAL
Senator Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat, raised fears that Pakistan was adding to the nuclear weapons it traditionally had pointed towards India, and questioned whether US aid could be funding it.
 
Senator Webb noted reports that Pakistan ‘may be actually adding on their weapon systems and warheads’. ‘Do you have any evidence of that?” he asked. ‘Yes,’ Admiral Mullen answered.

‘That strikes me as something we should be approaching with enormous concerns,’ Webb responded.

‘We’re spending a lot of time talking about the potential that Iran might have nuclear-weapon capability and this is a regime that is far less stable. ... Do we have any type of control factors that would be built in, in terms of where future American money would be put in?’

Senator Levin and Admiral Mullen had a detailed discussion on the drone attacks when the lawmaker referred to a New York Times article on Thursday, asserting that the United States had provided Pakistan with notice of drone operations, but stopped doing that because the information was leaked to the targets of the operations.

‘We have evolved over time in support of the Pakistan military and opened up a joint coordination centre, a few months ago, to support them in operations. And that continues to evolve,’ the admiral said.

‘That said we don’t do any of this without their requests to assist and support them in their operations. And in fact, those requests have ceased over the period of about the last month.’

The admiral then explained that Pakistan had not asked for any additional assistance along those lines for the last 30 days.

‘And have they received any control over our operations, as reported in the press, over our drone operations?’ the senator asked. ‘No, sir,’ the admiral said.

‘And report was that they have joint control of the drones?’ the senator asked. ‘That’s completely inaccurate,’ the admiral said.