ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 24 (UPI) -- The Pakistani government reportedly wants to acquire drone technology from the United States as it would rather its own military use the unmanned aircraft against the Taliban than the United States, which its public resents.
The renewed request for the drone technology came this week from Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in his meeting with visiting U.S. special envoy Richard C. Holbrooke, The Washington Post reported.
The request list also included other military assistance and sharing real-time, credible and actionable intelligence in Pakistan's campaign against the militants.
The Pakistani argument is that its public is deeply opposed to its soil being used for missile attacks on the militants in the tribal regions by suspected U.S. unmanned aircraft sent from across the border in Afghanistan.
CNN says the U.S. military routinely offers no comment on reported drone attacks, although the United States is the only known country operating in the region with the drone capability.
A Pakistani government statement on the Giyani-Holbrooke meeting said these drone attacks "have seriously impeded Pakistan's efforts towards rooting out militancy and terrorism from the area."
However, the Post report said analysts doubt the United States would go along with the Pakistani request for the technology.
"America has been saying, 'This is one of those technologies that is a critical technology, and we haven't even provided it to other allies,'" former Pakistani Gen. Talat Masood told the newspaper.
Regardless of Gilani's request, the Post said Pakistan has cooperated with the U.S. drone missions with its officials privately admitting they are helpful.
A CNN report last month quoted two U.S. military officials that the U.S. military drone missions over Pakistan's tribal regions were now providing critical intelligence to Pakistani's forces in their anti-militant fight.
These military drones do not have the authority or plan to fire on targets in Pakistan, the report said.
The missions have not been publicly disclosed because of security concerns and also because of Islamabad's public stand on the issue.
The CNN report said the drones' cameras and other intelligence systems help gather intelligence and other details on insurgent targets that are then passed to the Pakistani security forces.
The report said all U.S. flights are undertaken at the request of the Pakistani government.
The current Pakistani campaign is centered in the South Waziristan area, believed to be the stronghold of Pakistani Taliban Chief Baitullah Mehsud.
CNN says the United States has more than 7,000 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ranging from the standard Predator to the more sophisticated Reaper. The army uses the lighter Raven and Shadow versions.
One measure of the popularity of the drones is that they reportedly helped eliminate more than half of al-Qaida top leaders.
