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Drone strikes
[Dawn] A barrage of drone strikes in parts of North Wazoo Agency recently has once again thrust the controversial programme in the spotlight.The escalation appears to be linked to time running out for America's strategy to stabilise Afghanistan and prevent that country and the border areas with Pakistain from remaining a safe haven for groups inclined to attacking the US. Beyond that, little is certain. The strikes over the past couple of weeks have focused on specific areas of one of the three divisions in North Wazoo, areas believed to be largely Haqqani strongholds. This indicates that the pursuit of Al Qaeda has gone down a notch, perhaps because that group's size is believed to have shrunk to no more than a few hundred members. Increasing pressure on the Taliban, however, should not be read as a fixation with just the Afghan Taliban. In North Wazoo, even the Pak Taliban are believed to be oriented towards Afghanistan and as such would also be in the cross-hairs of the US drones. When the strikes in North Wazoo are considered along with US pressure on faceless myrmidons in eastern Afghanistan, the other side of the border from North Wazoo in particular, it becomes evident that America is willing to act even in the absence of the much- demanded military operation in North Wazoo. The window for America to produce military results is closing. The Pak government, rather the security establishment led by the Pakistain Army, needs to come clean about the drone strikes. US Special Representative for AfPak Richard Holbrooke has claimed the government and the army are very much on board regarding the drone strikes -- something privately acknowledged by the Pak side. If there isn't cooperation on every strike, then broad permission appears to have been granted by the Pak side. Secret deals on strikes which are public appear to make little sense. Ideally, the US should transfer drone technology to Pakistain to remove qualms over violation of sovereignty. For this, greater mutual trust is needed. Till then, a private understanding on drone strikes would have to suffice as the use of Pak bombers could mean greater collateral damage. Posted by: Fred 2010-09-18 |
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