Obama admits 'worst-kept secret': US flies drones over Pakistan

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President Obama publicly acknowledged the covert US drone program in Pakistan during a Q&A Monday – the first public admission of what CNN described as "the worst kept secret in Washington and Pakistan."

The US has kept quiet about the program partially for the sake of the Pakistani government, which publicly and vociferously condemns the program because of strong public opposition at home, but still permits the strikes. The drones target Al Qaeda and Taliban militants based in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the Afghan border. 

Aside from a statement from Pakistan's foreign ministry saying that the drone attacks are "unlawful, counterproductive and hence unacceptable," according to Pakistan's Geo News, there has so far been little reaction to the disclosure in Pakistani media, which is usually quick to condemn drone attacks.

Obama's acknowledgement came in response to a question during the Q&A in a Google+ video chat room interview, Monday. 

"A lot of these strikes have been in the FATA, and going after Al Qaeda suspects who are up in very tough terrain on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. For us to be able to get them in another way would involve probably a lot more intrusive military actions than the one we're already engaging in," he said, according to CNN.

Obama defended the program, saying it had “not caused a huge number of civilian casualties” and that it was “important for everybody to understand that this thing is kept on a very tight leash," Agence France-Presse reports. According to the Washington-based New America Foundation, at least 1,715 people (and possibly many more) have been killed in Pakistan by drones in the past eight years.

The drone program was brought to a temporary halt in November, after NATO forces killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at a border outpost, mistaking them for militants, but resumed this year.

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