US sharply curtails drone strikes in Pakistan

The Obama administration has cut down on drone strikes on terrorist targets as requested by Pakistan for the pursuit of peace talks with the local Taliban. "That's what they asked for, and we didn't tell them no," one US official said, but strikes will continue against senior al Qaeda targets as they become available and any direct imminent threats to Americans, he said.  The new round of Pakistan-Taliban talks, which was due to begin Tuesday, was postponed by the government after two members of a Taliban-named delegation declined to participate.