Amid flooding, CIA resumes Pakistan drone campaign

[Two-year-old Akil, who is suffering from diarrhea, receives treatment at the District Headquarters Hospital as his mother and grandmother wait patiently on Aug. 23 in Muzaffargarh in Punjab, Pakistan. Officials say as many as 20 million people have been affected by Pakistan's worst flooding in 80 years as army and aid organizations strugge to cope with the scope of the disaster that has killed more than 1,600 people and displaced millions. D. Berehulak / Getty]

After a little-noticed, weeks long disruption caused by the monsoons that devastated Pakistan, the CIA in recent days has picked up the pace of its missile strikes against Islamic militants people resisting the US with back-to-back attacks against terror targets that have killed at least 11 people in the country’s northwest region.

But the air strikes have raised fresh concerns among some Pakistani officials that the agency is resuming its lethal campaign at the worst possible moment, in the midst of a humanitarian crisis that has submerged one sixth of the country and left at least six million people homeless. The U.S. government was building substantial good will inside Pakistan by rushing food and helicopters and pledging $150 million — more than any other country — to assist with flood relief, one senior Pakistani official told NBC.

But “all that could go down the drain” if the agency continues with aggressive air strikes right now, said the official who asked not to be quoted criticizing the U.S. “It’s one thing if they were getting some high value targets. But there are many in Pakistan, particularly in the religious parties, who are going to look at this and say, ‘here we have the worst national calamity in the history of our country and the U.S. is responding by conducting’ ” lethal military attacks.

Stephen Lendman: Washington Orders Shahbaz Airbase Saved, Not Pakistan's Flood Victims.