I know what it’s like to feel the fear of battle. To be constantly looking over my shoulder and thinking every sound might be a bomb or a bullet. When I served in Afghanistan in 2009 I felt that fear, but I made a choice to serve in the army and I knew I could come home to safety at the end of my tour. For people living in the border regions of Pakistan their homes may not be a place of safety for much longer. A familiar fear could be about to return to the skies overhead.

41 men targeted but 1,147 people killed: US drone strikes – the facts on the ground Read more

Donald Trump is threatening to bring back the drone strikes that brought terror to the country for more than a decade. In doing this he is gambling with the lives of innocent people as diplomatic bargaining chips to punish the Pakistan government. Our prime minister should refuse to play any part.

I am deeply concerned by our country’s tangled, and largely secret, involvement in the US drone programme. As an MP, it is my job to hold the government to account. Yet parliament has been given no role in scrutinising the UK’s role, and to date the government has refused to disclose the drone guidance that contains the UK’s policy. This must change. The use of lethal force is the most powerful action a state can take against a person. In a democracy, such policies must be published. How else can we can we know if they are lawful or justified? How else can we know what is being done in our name?

Publication of this guidance is more urgent than ever because mounting evidence suggests the UK works hand-in-glove with the expanding US drone programme. It has been reported that British bases provide crucial intelligence and operational support in target location; and British intelligence personnel on the ground in countries all around the world provide vital human intelligence helping the US identify targets for deadly drone strikes. British pilots also fly US drones from the same seats as their American counterparts who pull the trigger on strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It will take strength to untangle our involvement in America’s unlawful drone programme. But untangle ourselves we must. Far from being an effective tool in the “war on terror”, the use of drones outside areas of armed conflict devastates communities and fuels recruitment of the very terrorists the drones are meant to target. Terrorist organisations capitalise on the fear of drones and the resentment caused by the countless civilians killed by this “precise” technology.

We are told by our governments on both sides of the Atlantic that the bombs are “targeted” only at terrorists. But all the evidence tells us that this is not true. I have spoken before about how close I once came to making the terrible mistake of shooting a civilian in Afghanistan. I know how difficult it is to make these calls from a few hundred metres; it is almost impossible from a few thousand feet.

Trump to expand US military intervention in Afghanistan Read more

Analysis by the human rights charity Reprieve and its partner organisation, Foundation for Fundamental Rights, in Pakistan, found that on average it takes the US three attempts to kill an intended target; and in at least two-thirds of strikes, the missiles hit the wrong place and kill the wrong people. Drones may be precise, but it appears that they are precisely killing innocent people. Many civilians have lost their lives in the attempts by the US to assassinate terrorists: for example, in attempts to eliminate the current head of al-Qaida, 76 children and 29 adults have been killed; in attempts to take out four men in Pakistan, 221 people, including 103 children, have been killed – three of those targets are still alive, and the fourth died of hepatitis.

Trump’s ramping up of rhetoric against Pakistan should concern us all. But it should worry Theresa May in Downing Street more than most. The dangers of drones returning to Pakistan are obvious not only to the innocent civilians who will once again live under constant terror, but also for our reputation as a country that proudly protects high standards in the field of battle. Our leaders should not allow themselves to be drawn into the diplomatic game Trump is playing with people’s lives.

• Clive Lewis is the Labour MP for Norwich South