LOS ANGELES , California ( CNN ) -- U.S. airstrikes aimed at al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan have been `` very effective , '' with few civilian deaths as a result , CIA Director Leon Panetta said Monday in a rare public acknowledgment of the raids . CIA Director Leon Panetta speaks about the fight against al Qaeda at the Pacific Council on International Policy . Asked about criticism of the missile attacks by counterinsurgency experts , Panetta said he did not want to discuss specifics , `` but I can assure you that in terms of that particular area , it is very precise and is very limited in terms of collateral damage . '' `` Very frankly , it 's the only game in town in terms of confronting or trying to disrupt the al Qaeda leadership , '' Panetta told the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles . Pakistan has complained repeatedly about what it says are airstrikes on its territory by U.S.-operated drones . The U.S. military in neighboring Afghanistan does not comment on the attacks , which typically target Islamic militants in the border region , but the United States is the only country operating in the region known to have the capability to launch missiles from remote-controlled aircraft . Panetta 's predecessor , Michael Hayden , was asked about the drone attacks on Pakistani territory shortly before he left office in January , but addressed it far less directly than Panetta . `` I 'm not going to talk about anything operational , and I 'm not confirming or denying how any of this happens , we 're not getting into that , '' he said . But he said he believed al Qaeda leaders had come to view Pakistan 's tribal regions as `` neither safe nor a haven . '' Two leading former advisers on counterinsurgency warfare , David Kilcullen and Andrew Exum , wrote in The New York Times over the weekend that the strikes have killed about 14 terrorist leaders in the past three years -- but Pakistani sources say the civilian death toll could be as high as 700 . While U.S. officials dispute that ratio , Kilcullen and Exum wrote , `` Every one of these dead noncombatants represents an alienated family , a new desire for revenge and more recruits for a militant movement that has grown exponentially even as drone strikes have increased . '' `` The persistence of these attacks on Pakistani territory offends people 's deepest sensibilities , alienates them from their government and contributes to Pakistan 's instability , '' Kilcullen and Exum said . They compared the tactics to British bombardment of the same region in the 1920s and French airstrikes on Algeria in the 1950s , arguing that the strikes were likely to remind Pakistanis of colonial rule . U.S. forces have been battling al Qaeda and its Taliban allies in Afghanistan since the terrorist network 's 2001 attacks on New York and Washington . Both have taken root across the rugged border in Pakistan , where Pakistani troops are waging an air and ground offensive to crush the Taliban in the Swat Valley , northwest of the capital , Islamabad . Prime Minister Yusuf Reza Gilani said Monday that the offensive will go on `` until peace is established . '' CNN 's Pam Benson contributed to this report .
CIA Director Leon Panetta makes rare public mention of the . U.S. ' ` ` only game in town '' to fight Al Qaeda in Pakistan , he says . He says strikes are very precise and collateral damage is limited .