Less than a week after officially taking office, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has announced the revocation of a secret government authorization to the United States to launch drone attacks against the country.
Drone strikes have been hugely unpopular in Pakistan, with Sharif’s election victory coming in no small part because he promised to end the US attacks. The previous government of the Pakistani Peoples Party (PPP) had publicly criticized the strikes, but the US maintained that they had “tacit” permission to continue them.
Sharif appeared to confirm that this had been the case today, insisting that the era of “dual policy” governments issuing public statements that conflicted with their official, secret policies is over.
Efforts to end the drone strikes are also under way in the Pakistani parliament, with the Pakistani Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI), the nation’s largest opposition party, proposing a resolution that would authorize military action against US drones if the attacks don’t end.
