US Drone strikes in Pakistan are illegal under international law.

[TruthSeeker]

US drones target Haqqani Network in North Waziristan strike

By BILL ROGGIO, September 29, 2013

The US killed three Haqqani Network members in a strike today in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. The strike is just the third in Pakistan this month.

The CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a compound in the village of Darga Mandi in the Ghulam Khan area of North Waziristan, Pakistani security officials told AFP. The identities of the fighters who were killed have not been disclosed.

Today's strike in Darga Mandi is the second in the village this month, and the third strike in Pakistan in September. On Sept. 5, the US killed four Haqqani Network fighters in a strike in the village. Mullah Sangeen Zadran, a senior Haqqani network leader, is rumored to have been killed in the strike. His death has not been confirmed.

Over the past year, the Haqqani Network has been in the crosshairs of the CIA. The US killed a Haqqani Network leader known as Maulana Akhtar Zadran along with Abu Saif al Jaziri, an al Qaeda military commander from the Lashkar al Zil, in a drone strike in North Waziristan on July 2. And earlier this month, the Taliban confirmed that Badruddin Haqqani, a top leader of the group, was killed in a US drone attack in August 2012.

Read more: US drones target Haqqani Network in North Waziristan strike - The Long War Journal



Pakistan condemns latest drone strike in North Waziristan

By BILL ROGGIO, September 30, 2013

The US launched its second drone strike in two days in Pakistan's Taliban controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed the attack and "strongly condemns" it.

The CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a compound in Mohammed Khel village in the Datta Khel area of the tribal agency, Dawn reported. The strike killed "three rebels," a Pakistani intelligence official claimed. The identities of those killed were not disclosed.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement denouncing the US strike and called for the US to bring a halt to the program that targets al Qaeda, the Taliban, and a host of terrorist groups operating in North and South Waziristan.

"These unilateral strikes are a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Pakistan has repeatedly emphasized the importance of bringing an immediate end to drone strikes," a statement released on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website said.

"The Government of Pakistan has consistently maintained that drone strikes are counter-productive, entail loss of innocent civilian lives and have human rights and humanitarian implications," the statement continued.

Read more: Pakistan condemns latest drone strike in North Waziristan - The Long War Journal

 

[[Bregs]]

Do pak govt supports these attacks behind the door ?

 

[fatman17]

Monthly Updates on the Covert War


September 2013 Update: US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia

October 1, 2013 by Jack Serle

Published in: All Stories, Covert Drone War, Monthly Updates on the Covert WarTweet

Multiple drone strikes hit Pakistan, but no confirmed US attacks in Yemen



CIA drones strike Pakistan four times in September.

Drone attacks pause for a month in Yemen.

No strikes in Somalia. Al Shabaab violence grabs the world’s attention.


Pakistan

September 2013 actions

Total CIA strikes in September: 4
Total killed in strikes in September: 16-24, of whom 0 were reportedly civilians


All actions 2004 – September 30 2013

Total Obama strikes: 325
Total US strikes since 2004: 376
Total reported killed: 2,525-3,613
Civilians reported killed: 407-926
Children reported killed: 168-200
Total reported injured: 1,117-1,505

For the Bureau’s full Pakistan databases click here.


The CIA launched four attacks this month – the second most attacks in one month so far this year. At least 16 people were killed in these attacks – none of them reportedly a civilian. This was the ninth consecutive month without a confirmed civilian casualty.

Six killed in the first strike of the month on September 6 were named (Ob322). Among them was Mullah Sangeen Zadran – an alleged commander in the Haqqani Network and reportedly the Afghan Taliban’s ‘shadow governor’ in Afghanistan’s Paktika province.

Analyst Saifullah Mahsud said the US had ‘scored really big’ by killing Zadran. Though he was second-in-command to Haqqani patriarch Sirajuddin Haqqani, he ‘was running the show, practically’.

The final two strikes came less than 24 hours apart. The first, on September 29, hit two days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told the UN General Assembly drone strikes violate his country’s borders. He added that the civilian casualties from the strikes are ‘detrimental to our resolve and efforts to eliminate extremism and terrorism from Pakistan’.

The leading political parties demonstrated that resolve on September 9 by endorsing Sharif’s plan to start peace talks with the Pakistan Taliban, the TTP. But a series of bloody attacks in the following weeks may threaten that unanimity. A week after the announcement Major General Sanaullah Khan, Pakistan Army commander in Swat, was killed by a roadside bomb. The TTP claimed responsibility.

On September 22 an horrific suicide bombing killed more than 80 people. They were worshiping in a church in Peshawar when two bombers detonated inside the building. An armed group, Jundallah, claimed the attack as revenge for US drone strikes. The TTP, an alliance of armed groups, disowned the attack three days later. It declared Jundallah was not a member group.

The church attack was a significant blow to Sharif’s hopes for talks with the Taliban. According to US news wire McClatchy, Sharif said: ‘We had proposed peace talks with the Taliban in good faith but . . . because of this attack, the government is unable to move forward with what it planned and envisaged.’

On September 27 an Ansarul Mujahideen attack killed as many as 20 people on a bus in Peshawar. The group emerged earlier this year with the stated aim of avenging civilians killed in drone strikes, The News reported. And Peshawar was hit for a third time on September 29 when a TTP car bomb detonated in one of the city’s markets. The blast killed as many as 42 men women and children, 17 reportedly from one family.


Yemen

September 2013 actions

Confirmed US drone strikes: 0
Further reported/possible US strike events: 1
Total reported killed in US operations: 0-2
Civilians reported killed in US strikes: 0
All actions 2002 – September 30 2013*

Confirmed US drone strikes: 54-64
Total reported killed: 268-397
Civilians reported killed: 21-58
Children reported killed: 5
Reported injured: 65-147

Possible extra US drone strikes: 82-101
Total reported killed: 289-467
Civilians reported killed: 23-48
Children reported killed: 6-9
Reported injured: 83-109

All other US covert operations: 12-77
Total reported killed: 148-377
Civilians reported killed: 60-88
Children reported killed: 25-26
Reported injured: 22-111
Click here for the full Yemen data.


* All but one of these actions have taken place during Obama’s presidency. Reports of incidents in Yemen often conflate individual strikes. The range in the total strikes and total drone strikes we have recorded reflects this.

There were no confirmed US drone strikes reported in September, although a single source reported an attack on a car as a drone strike on September 7.

The pause in attacks came after a barrage of at least six strikes in August. These strikes followed the report of a potential major al Qaeda attack. The strikes reportedly killed more than 22 people, six were claimed to be civilians of whom three were children.

Eleven of the dead have been named – two of them children. Two others featured on Yemen’s list of top 25 most wanted militants and a third was reportedly a leading al Qaeda member and a leader of a tribe violently at odds with Sanaa.

Al Qaeda has reportedly continued attacking Yemeni security forces this month. On September 21, three coordinated attacks on military and security positions in southern Yemen left as many as 56 people dead. A single attack on an army base, in which 38 soldiers were killed, was the army’s biggest loss in one assault since 2012, Associated Press reported. In the following week two senior officers were reportedly assassinated. And on September 30 armed men stormed an army base in southeastern Mukalla.

Somalia

September 2013 actions

Total reported US operations: 0


All actions 2007 – September 30 2013

US drone strikes: 3-9
Total reported killed: 7-27
Civilians reported killed: 0-15
Children reported killed: 0
Reported injured: 2-24

All other US covert operations: 7-14
Total reported killed: 47-143
Civilians reported killed: 7-42
Children reported killed: 1-3
Reported injured: 12-20
Click here for the Bureau’s full data on Somalia.



Once again there were no reported US strikes in Somalia. However the brutal attack on a Kenyan shopping mall put the militant group al Shabaab into the spotlight.

A team of militants stormed the Westgate shopping complex in Nairobi armed with rifles and grenades. They moved from shop to shop and floor to floor killing some and taking others hostage. The Kenyan security forces encircled the mall and took control of the area the following day. As many as 61 civilians, six security officers and five militants were reportedly killed.

Also this month, it emerged the US has had to move its African drone base from a sprawling military complex at the international airport in Djibouti’s capital. The Washington Post revealed several drones had crashed during landing and take off from what was reportedly the busiest drone base outside Afghanistan. It was reported that the Djiboutian government asked the US to move its drones to an isolated airbase away from a civilian population.


Naming The Dead

The Bureau launched a new initiative this month: Naming the Dead. The aim is to record the names of those killed in nine years of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan. The work revealed that of the minimum 2,500 people reportedly killed in drone strikes in Pakistan, only one in five have been named. Just two women have been identified. The Bureau has published those 568 names in a filterable online database.

Of those names 295 are civilians. However little more than the name is known. The Bureau has managed to piece together biographical information for just a handful of them, including adolescent Tariq Aziz. There is more known about the top tier of militant commanders killed by drones, like Pakistan Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud. The Bureau will continue to publish names and biographies of the dead in the coming months.

Follow Alice Ross and Jack Serle on Twitter.

To sign up for monthly updates from the Bureau’s Covert War project click here.

 

[fatman17]

Opinion
Drones and deception
Owen Bennett-Jones

Saturday, October 26, 2013


It was a case of the public statement versus the leak. After his meeting in the White House Nawaz Sharif said he had given Obama the clearest possible message: “I also brought up the issue of drones in our meeting, emphasising the need for an end to such strikes”, he said.

Of course, the White House knew that was coming which presumably explains why the leak was timed so that Sharif could read it as he was driven up Pennsylvania Avenue.

Between 2007 and 2011, the Washington Post reported, the CIA had not only been briefing Pakistan on the drone strikes but – according to the documents – Pakistani officials also selected some of the targets.

The spat raises once again a tricky question: when formulating national policy on drones which Pakistani authorities count under international law? The politicians or the military?

Because even as Pakistani politicians in recent years have rallied domestic and international opinion against the drones, the Pakistani military granted the Americans permission to fly them from the Shamsi air base in Balochistan. Shamsi was only denied to the Americans in 2011. It was an absurd position on so many levels.

Most obviously the provision of the air base – even if it was, as some claim, only for intelligence gathering by drones – contradicted stated government policy. Government ministers then further confused the situation by sometimes conceding that, as well as condemning the drone programme, Pakistan was also cooperating with it.

And the politicians’ uncertainty was matched by the military’s inconsistency. After all the complaints about drones, in April this year General Musharraf admitted that he had given clearance for some strikes.

The deceptions became convoluted in the extreme. There were even suggestions in a New York Times report earlier this year that the Pakistani military attacked a target in the tribal areas and then described the strike as a drone attack which it went on to condemn.

Taken as a whole, the shifting positions seemed like enough for the US to argue that whatever the political rhetoric flying around, it surely had at the very least tacit, and on occasions even explicit, consent to go ahead with the drone campaign. So, Washington claimed, it could hardly be accused of breaching Pakistani sovereignty.

It took the US operations at Salala and Abbotabad to iron out some of the Pakistani inconsistencies. Today Shamsi is not being used by the Americans and the government is consistent in its condemnation of drones. It is surely no coincidence that the Washington Post’s leaked documents do not refer to anything after 2011. That’s when there was a change of policy.

The army’s position, however, remains opaque. Reports have it that General Kayani has said to Pakistani politicians, and British ones too, that his military no longer has an understanding of any kind with the Americans about drones. No explicit consent and not even tacit consent.

Others within the Pakistani system say that the US is still giving Pakistan briefings about who – or maybe just where – is being hit as the strikes are happening – implying a degree of cooperation. Given the past uncertainties it would make sense that if the army leadership really does now oppose drone strikes – all of them – then it should say so clearly and in public.

But thanks to a couple of UN Special Rapporteurs we now have fuller legal understanding that even if the Pakistan military continues to keep everyone guessing about its true position, under international law it doesn’t matter. Quite simply, the power to authorise US drones lies not with the Pakistan military but with the Pakistan government.

With a capacity of administrative waste that the UN has perfected over many decades, it has organised two special rapporteurs to report on much the same subject at much the same time. Their titles too suggest a certain bureaucratic flair: Ben Emmerson is the special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and freedom while countering terrorism. Christof Heyns meanwhile deals with extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

Both have come up with reports on drones – documents that have been presented to the UN General Assembly. And on the question of whether the US drone campaign breaches Pakistani sovereignty they reached broadly similar conclusions.

Heyns: “Only the state’s highest authorities have the power to give consent to use force. It is not sufficient to obtain consent from particular agencies or departments of the government.”

Emmerson: “...the democratically elected government is the body responsible for Pakistani international relations and the sole entity able to express the will of the state in its international affairs. Suggestions of continued operation at the military or intelligence level not affect the position in international law.”

In other words Pakistan is like everywhere else: parliament makes laws, the government implements them and the army has to do what it’s told.

True, other legal considerations have to be taken into account. Should American officials be able to clearly establish that there is an imminent plot to attack the US – either on the US homeland or by harming US forces in Afghanistan – then it could justify a drone strike in self-defence.

It is far from clear that most of the drone strikes in the tribal areas have been designed to prevent imminent attacks but as Emmerson points out, that all depends on how you define the word ‘imminent’.

But on the sovereignty issue the UN rapporteurs are agreed. International law recognises the policy position not of the army, but of the government. And the US cannot use CIA-to-military deals – or leaks – to trump Pakistani government policy.

The writer is a freelance British journalist, one of the hosts of BBC’s Newshour and the author of the new political thriller, Target Britain.

Twitter: @OwenBennettJone

Email: bennettjones@hotmail.com

 

[Fracker]

Issue is not that it is against or with conjuction. But issue is who can stop "Super Power Country" for that?

 

[TruthSeeker]

US drone strike kills 3 'militants' in North Waziristan

By BILL ROGGIO, October 31, 2013

The US launched its first drone strike in Pakistan in a month. Last night's attack took place in an area of the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan that is administered by the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network.

The CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a compound in the village of Zafar in the Miramshah area of the tribal agency, Dawn reported. The strike killed "three suspected militants" and wounded three other people, a Pakistani intelligence official claimed. The identities of those killed and wounded were not disclosed.

Last night's strike was the first in Pakistan since Sept. 30, when US drones killed three "rebels" in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan. After that strike, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement denouncing the US strike and called for the US to bring a halt to the program that targets al Qaeda, the Taliban, and a host of terrorist groups operating in North and South Waziristan. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also publicly called last week for the US to end the strikes, after his meeting with President Barack Obama.

The Long War Journal has recorded, based on Pakistani press reports, that at least 2,074 jihadists from al Qaeda, the Taliban, and a host of terror groups operating in North and South Waziristan have been killed in strikes since the beginning of 2009, including some of al Qaeda's top leaders. There have also been 102 reported civilian deaths in drone strikes in Pakistan since the beginning of 2009, with 15 civilians killed since the beginning of 2012. Civilian casualties are difficult to assess as the strikes take place in areas under Taliban control; the figure may be higher than 102.

The US has launched 24 drone strikes in Pakistan so far this year, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. The number of strikes in Pakistan has decreased since a peak in 2010, when 117 such attacks were recorded. In 2011, 64 strikes were launched in Pakistan, and in 2012 there were 46 strikes.


Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/10/us_drone_strike_kill_22.php#ixzz2jM0PaocK

 

[TruthSeeker]

US drone strike kills 3 Haqqani commanders in Pakistan's Hangu district

By BILL ROGGIO, November 21, 2013

The US launched a drone strike at a seminary in Pakistan's settled district of Hangu, killing six people in what appears to have been an attempt to kill Sirajuddin Haqqani, the operations commander of the Taliban and al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network. The strike is just the fourth outside of Pakistan's tribal areas since the program began in 2004, and the first since March 2009.

The CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired three missiles at a seminary in the Tal area of Hangu district today, according to Dawn. Siraj Haqqani was spotted at the seminary just two days ago, Reuters reported.

It is not clear how many of those killed in today's strike are civilians, or jihadists or supporters affiliated with the Taliban. Dawn identified the six killed as "Kaleemullah, Abdul Rehman, Mufti Hamidullah Haqqani, Maulvi Ahmed Jan, Abdullah and Gul Marjan." Jan, Haqqani, and Rehman are said to be "key leaders" in the Haqqani network; Jan was described as an aide to Siraj as well as a key financier.

The strike in Hangu took place just 11 days after Siraj's brother, Nasiruddin, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Islamabad. No group has claimed credit for killing Nasiruddin.

US drones rarely stray outside of tribal areas

The location of the drone attack, outside of the tribal areas, is an indication that the CIA was hunting for a high value target. US targeting rarely strays outside of the tribal areas.

Today's strike is just the fourth by the US outside of Pakistan's tribal areas since the program began in 2004, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. The other three airstrikes took place in the district of Bannu. The last strike to take place outside of the tribal areas occurred in March 2009; two al Qaeda operatives were reported to have been killed in Bannu's Jani Khel area of the district.

The vast majority of the US drone strikes have taken place in the tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan. Of the 352 strikes since 2004, 251 have hit targets in North Waziristan, and 83 have hit targets in South Waziristan. There have been three strikes in Bajaur, two in Arakzai, four in Kurram, and five in Khyber.

Today's strike is also the first reported in Pakistan since Nov. 1, when the drones killed Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, in an attack in the Miramshah area of North Waziristan.

The drone strikes are controversial; in October, groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International formally accused the US of indiscriminately killing civilians in strikes in both Pakistan and Yemen. But at the end of October, Pakistan's Ministry of Defence released a report stating that 67 civilians have been killed in drone strikes since the beginning of 2009, and claimed that no civilians have been killed since the beginning of 2012.

The Long War Journal has recorded, based on Pakistani press reports, that at least 2,079 jihadists from al Qaeda, the Taliban, and a host of terror groups operating in North and South Waziristan have been killed in strikes since the beginning of 2009, including some of al Qaeda's top leaders. There have also been 105 reported civilian deaths in drone strikes in Pakistan since the beginning of 2009, with 18 civilians killed since the beginning of 2012. Civilian casualties are difficult to assess as the strikes take place in areas under Taliban control; the figure may be higher than 105.

The US has launched 26 drone strikes in Pakistan so far this year, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. The number of strikes in Pakistan has decreased since a peak in 2010, when 117 such attacks were recorded. In 2011, 64 strikes were launched in Pakistan, and in 2012 there were 46 strikes.

The US has targeted al Qaeda's top leaders and its external operations network, as well as the assortment of Taliban and Pakistani jihadist groups operating in the region. The strikes have been confined mostly to North and South Waziristan; 332 of the 351 strikes recorded since 2004, or 95%, have taken place in the two tribal agencies. But al Qaeda and allied groups are known to have an extensive network throughout all of Pakistan.

Pakistani government denounces strike

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an official statement denouncing today's strike in Hangu.

"The Government of Pakistan strongly condemns the US drone strike ..." the ministry said in a statement that was released on its website. "These strikes are a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity. There is an across the board consensus in Pakistan that these drone strikes must end."

The Haqqanis are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan. But the Haqqanis are closely tied to al Qaeda and a host of jihadist groups operating in the region, and conduct attacks on US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani government also denounced the drone strike that killed Hakeemullah, who as the emir of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan was responsible for the killing of thousands of Pakistanis.



Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/11/us_drone_strike_kill_23.php#ixzz2lQrqI600

 

[TruthSeeker]

US drones strike in Pakistan, kill 3 'militants'

By BILL ROGGIO, November 29, 2013

The US killed three unidentified "militants" in a drone strike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan yesterday. The strike is the third in Pakistan this month; the previous two attacks killed senior leaders in the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan and the Haqqani Network.

The CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired two missiles at a compound in the Miramshah area of North Waziristan last night, according to Dawn. Several strike aircraft were seen hovering over the compound before the strike.

The target of yesterday's strike was not revealed, and no senior Taliban, al Qaeda, or allied jihadist commanders have been reported killed at this time. The strike is said to have killed "a Pakistani citizen from Punjab Province" but his identity was not disclosed, The New York Times reported. According to AFP, the Punjabi Taliban was the target of the attack, and an operative known as Aslam or Yaseem, who was involved in the attack on the Mehran Naval Base in Karachi in May 2011, was killed.

The Punjabi Taliban, or the Movement of the Taliban in Punjab, is led by Asmatullah Muawiya, who also serves as a commander of one of several a Qaeda military formations [see LWJ report, Bin Laden docs hint at large al Qaeda presence in Pakistan].

The attack took place in an area under the control of the Haqqani Network, a powerful Taliban faction that operates in eastern, central, and northern Afghanistan, and is based in North Waziristan in Pakistan. The terror group has close links with al Qaeda, and is supported by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. Sirajuddin Haqqani is the operational commander of the Haqqani Network and leads the Miramshah Shura, one of four major Taliban regional councils. Siraj is also a member of al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or executive council, US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal.

Despite the known presence of al Qaeda and other foreign groups in North Waziristan, and requests by the US that action be taken against these groups, the Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on the Haqqani Network or allied Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadar. The Haqqanis and Bahadar's fighters are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan.



Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/11/us_drones_strike_in_4.php#ixzz2n03b3nef

 

[Foo_Fighter]

Aint's these Drones killing terrorists who will make future suicide bombers (well both direct/ indirect way and direct way)??? This is a collateral damage which is better than a fair deal to Pakistan... I think even fairer than US's deal to themselves. This my take on the droning issues... could I be wrong?

 

[TruthSeeker]

US drones kill 4 'militants' in North Waziristan strike

By BILL ROGGIO, December 26, 2013

The US killed four "militants" in a drone strike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan late last night. The strike is the first in Pakistan in a month.

The remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a compound in the village of Qutab Khel near Miramshah in North Waziristan just after midnight, according to Dawn. Several of the unmanned strike aircraft were seen hovering over the compound before and after the strike.

The target of the latest strike in Pakistan was not revealed, and no senior Taliban, al Qaeda, or allied jihadist commanders have been reported killed at this time. Pakistani officials told Dawn that Afghans were thought to be among those killed.

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs "strongly" condemned the strike and said it was "a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

The Pakistani government described the attack in North Waziristan as "counter-productive," despite the fact that the last two leaders of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, which is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Pakistani civilians and security personnel, have been killed in drone strikes.

The attack took place in an area under the control of the Haqqani Network, a powerful Taliban faction that operates in eastern, central, and northern Afghanistan, and is based in North Waziristan in Pakistan. The US has stepped up its targeting of the Haqqani Network this year. Since the beginning of September, two top Haqqani Network leaders, Mullah Sangeen Zadran and Maulvi Ahmed Jan, have been killed in strikes in North Waziristan.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/12/us_drones_kill_4_mil_4.php#ixzz2odoKDLpo

 

[TruthSeeker]

U.S. sharply curtails drone strikes in Pakistan: report
WASHINGTON Tue Feb 4, 2014 10:08pm EST

(Reuters) - The United States has cut back sharply on drone strikes in Pakistan after the Islamabad government asked for restraint while it seeks peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The Post quoted a U.S. official as saying, "That's what they asked for, and we didn't tell them no." The newspaper said there had been a lull in such attacks since December, the longest break since 2011.

The newspaper said the Obama administration indicated it would continue carrying out strikes on senior al Qaeda officials if they were to become available or to thwart any immediate threat to Americans.

Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the report.

The Post quoted a senior Obama administration official as denying an informal agreement had been reached, saying, "The issue of whether to negotiate with the Pakistani Taliban is entirely an internal matter for Pakistan."

While some Pakistanis welcome the strikes, saying they kill fewer civilians and are more effective against Taliban militants than traditional military operations, others argue the strikes still cause civilian casualties, terrify residents and violate Pakistani sovereignty.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said he wants the drone strikes to end.

The Post said the current U.S. pause came after a November strike that killed Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud.

That attack took place a day after Pakistan's foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz was quoted as saying the United States had promised not to conduct drone strikes while the government tries to engage the Taliban in peace talks.

An annual study by a British-based organization found that CIA drone strikes against militants in Pakistan killed no more than four civilians last year, the lowest number of reported civilian deaths since the drone program began in 2004.

(Reporting by Peter Cooney; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

U.S. sharply curtails drone strikes in Pakistan: report| Reuters

 

[TruthSeeker]

US launches 2 drone strikes in Pakistan, breaks 6-month lull

By BILL ROGGIO, June 11, 2014

The US killed 16 jihadists, including four Uzbeks, in two drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas. The strikes ended a six-month pause in Pakistan.

In the first strike, the unmanned Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired several missiles at a compound and a vehicle in the village of Darga Mandi in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, Dawn reported. The village is just outside of Miramshah, the home of the Haqqani Network, a Taliban subgroup that is closely tied to al Qaeda.

Four "Uzbeks," likely from the al Qaeda-allied Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and two members of the Movement of the Taliban in Punjab were reported to have been killed in today's strike.

The US has launched five other strikes in Darga Mandi since the drone program in Pakistan began in 2005. In one strike, on Sept. 5, 2013, the US killed Mullah Sangeen Zadran, the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network leader and Taliban shadow governor of Afghanistan's Paktika province who held Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier who was recently exchanged for five top Taliban leaders held at Guantanamo Bay.

In the second strike, which took place early on the morning of June 12, US drones fired six missiles at "four different compounds and a pick-up truck" in the village of Danda Darpa Khel in the Miramshah area of North Waziristan, Dawn reported. Ten "militants" are reported to have been killed in the attack. More than five drones are said to have circled the area during the strike.

The strikes took place just one day after both the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan claimed credit for the suicide assault on Jinnah International Airport in Karachi. The IMU, which claimed it attacked US aircraft being stored secretly at the airport, likely carried out the attack in conjunction with the Taliban. [See LWJ report, IMU involved in suicide assault on Karachi airport.]

Today's drone strike is the first in Pakistan since Dec. 25, 2013. The US put the program on hold after the Pakistani government entered into peace talks with the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.

Although US officials have claimed that the drone strikes were halted due to a lack of identifiable high-value targets in Pakistan, intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal said that is not the case.

"Pakistan remains a hub for al Qaeda and allied movements operating along the AfPak border and beyond," one intelligence official said. "Al Qaeda's General command is still operating there, and is staffed by a new and dangerous generation of leaders. Zawahiri and his staff are still operating in Pakistan."

Part of the problem, another intelligence official observed, is that while the US has confined its strikes to the tribal areas, and particularly to North and South Waziristan, where al Qaeda has been active in the past, al Qaeda's operations are not limited to those areas.

"We didn't kill Osama bin Laden in North Waziristan, he was living comfortably in Abbottabad when the SEALs showed up," the official said. "Do we think it is any different for Zawahiri?"



Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/06/us_launches_first_dr_2.php##ixzz34QbYJZsG

 

[VCheng]

"We didn't kill Osama bin Laden in North Waziristan, he was living comfortably in Abbottabad when the SEALs showed up," the official said. "Do we think it is any different for Zawahiri?"

A million-dollar comment. Perhaps even more so.

 

[Irfan Baloch]

A million-dollar comment. Perhaps even more so.

naa much lower Rs 100.. he might be dining in Rawalpindi or Raiwand... depending where he wants to spend his last days

KSM was in Rawalpindi

 

[VCheng]

naa much lower Rs 100.. he might be dining in Rawalpindi or Raiwand... depending where he wants to spend his last days

KSM was in Rawalpindi

I agree that Zwahiri might not even be worth a hundred rupees, but I worry much more about the fallout when he is finally sent to count fish too.