WASHINGTON, Nov 4: During a visit to Washington last week, ISI chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to a secret agreement that allows the United States to continue air raids into the tribal areas, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, the United States stepped up Predator missions in recent weeks only after reaching an understanding with the new rulers in Islamabad about the use of the drones.

“Given Pakistani sensitivities about American meddling, this accord has been shielded in the deniable world of intelligence activities,” the report said.

“Officially, the Pakistanis oppose any violation of their airspace, and the Pakistani defence minister issued a public protest yesterday about the Predator raids. But that’s not the whole story.”

The secret accord was set after President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to the US in September.

The accord provided new mechanics for coordination of Predator attacks and a jointly approved list of high-value targets. The approved target list includes, in addition to Al Qaeda operatives, some Afghan warlords who were once sheltered by the ISI, including Gulbadin Hekmatyar, the Haqqani family network and Taliban leader Mohammad Omar. Also on the target list is Baitullah Mehsud, often described as the leader of the Pakistani Taliban.

Behind the agreement was recognition by the Pakistani political and military leadership that the imminent threat to the country’s security came from terrorists rather than from arch-rival India, the Post claimed.

A greater cooperation between Pakistan and the United States led to the assassination last month of Khalid Habib, Al Qaeda’s deputy chief of operations.

He was killed on Oct 16 by a Predator strike in South Waziristan. Habib, reckoned by some to be the No 4 leader in Al Qaeda, was involved in recruiting operatives for future terrorist attacks against the United States.