Parveen Swami writes for The Hindu:
Pakistan's military has agreed to the resumption of the United States' drone strikes against terrorist groups operating on its soil, highly-placed diplomatic sources told The Hindu.
The agreement, the sources said, was hammered out by Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lieutenant-General Shuja Ahmad Pasha and Central Intelligence Agency director David Petraeus at a secret meeting in Doha last month.
The pact ends a six-week cessation of operation that began after a November 26, 2011 U.S. airstrike claimed the lives of 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Islamabad had responded to the deaths by shutting down drone flights from the Shamsi in Balochistan, and ordering dozens of CIA staff out of the country.
Pakistan's intelligence chief also agreed, the sources said, to allow the CIA to expand its presence at the Shahbaz airbase near Abbottabad. The base is a key hub for the CIA's field networks to identify targets and plant electronic microchips that guide drone-fired missiles to their targets.
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