One of the most contentious and controversial policies of the Obama administration has been the use of drones against terror suspects in foreign countries, and today Secretary of State John Kerry said the US is planning to stop drone strikes in Pakistan.

During a television interview Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States hopes to end drone strikes over Pakistan.

“The program will end as we have eliminated most of the threat and continue to eliminate it,” Kerry told Pakistan TV. “I think the president has a very real timeline and we hope it’s going to be very, very soon.”

Drone strikes have been a major sticking point in relations between the United States and Pakistan. Until the United States issued a carefully worded apology over a NATO airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani troops, the country had closed an important military supply line into Afghanistan.