"The American intelligence has improved. I'm told that they have a small computer chip they give their own people to throw that into a house," said Brig. Gen. Mahmood Shah, a former intelligence agent and secretary of the tribal areas. "People are sleeping outside the houses, in case somebody has thrown this pathri inside. It's created fear in the area."
U.S. and Pakistani officials insist there has been no deal made by the two governments to allow the drone attacks inside Pakistani territory, despite reports to the contrary.
"No," Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Gilani said when asked by ABC News whether there was a private go-ahead given by his government. "Not to our knowledge. Not in the knowledge of the foreign office or the army. … They all promised for the sovereignty, the respect for sovereignty and integrity for Pakistan."
A senior U.S. official also denied there had been a deal, saying, "People are making too much out of too little."
But there is little doubt the United States believes the drone attacks are working, and the pace of drone attacks has been stepped up. Until August, there had been at least seven drone attacks. Since August, there have been at least 24.
CIA director Michael Hayden, speaking last week in Washington, declared that "every major terrorist threat that my agency is aware of has threads back to the tribal areas."
Without acknowledging the use of drones in Pakistan, he lauded steps his agency had taken against al Qaeda.
"In the past year alone, a number of senior al Qaeda leaders who have sought refuge in the tribal areas have died, either by violence or natural causes," Hayden said. "Those losses are significant. These men were decision-makers, commanders, experienced and committed fighters at the center of planning attacks, not only in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but against Europe and the United States."
He said: "By making a safe haven feel less safe, we keep al Qaeda guessing. We make them doubt their allies, question their methods, their plans, even their priorities. Most importantly, we force them to spend more time and resources on self-preservation. And that distracts them, at least partially and at least for a time, from laying the groundwork for the next attack."
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