Drone strikes 'to be exempted' from CIA terror 'playbook'

The CIA's campaign of lethal drone strikes against al-Qaeda is to be exempted from new rules on the use of targeted killings being drawn up in Washington, it has been claimed.

The Obama administration is nearing completion on a new detailed counter terrorism 'playbook' which will establish a guide for lethal operations during the president's second term.

However, the Washington Post reported that the CIA's controversial drone operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan would effectively be given an exemption from the new rules in the run up to the American withdrawal next year.

This is likely to prove controversial in Islamabad and Kabul, where the drone strikes have provoked angry demonstrations against the violation of sovereignty.

The CIA has greatly increased up its drone strikes in Afghanistan, partly by loosening the criteria for strikes from having clear intelligence about the identity of targets, to relying on patterns of behaviour or vehicle movements – so-called 'signature strikes'.

The exemption is being driven by concern that the window for weakening al-Qaeda in the region is closing.

more here: Telegraph