IT is unfortunate that drone attacks have extended to areas where they never occurred before. At least 30 persons, allegedly militants, died in Kurram Agency on Monday when rockets fired by a pilotless plane, flying over the village of Baggan, rammed into a residential compound owned by an Afghan national. Though earlier strikes were confined to North and South Waziristan and Bajaur agencies, the one in Kurram indicates that the Americans are intensifying their focus on targets of suspected militants in Pakistan. Just two days earlier, another 30 persons had died in a similar attack in South Waziristan. This is a dangerous trend that belies the expectations aroused by Obama's electoral victory, his promise of change and departure from his predecessor's policies. The continuation of these drone attacks also shows our government's failure to convince numerous US dignitaries who visited the country, including Vice-President Joe Biden, Chairman US Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen, CENTCOM Chief Gen David Petraeus as well as special representative Richard Holbrooke, thus strengthening the suspicion that official protestations are only meant for public consumption. This lends credibility to the shocking disclosure made by US Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who expressed surprise at Islamabad's opposition to Predator strikes, saying these planes were operating from inside Pakistan with government consent, a claim supported by General Mirza Aslam Beg. In an interview, he maintained that drones had been flying from Tarbela, guided by a control centre located in a five-star hotel in Islamabad that was destroyed in a suicide attack. Instead of playing politics, the government should come clean on the issue. Striking secret deals with the US, or any other foreign power will only prove counterproductive. One also expects from the new administration in Washington to bid farewell to this harmful Bush legacy.