United States to expand drone attacks
Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 7:58 am
NEW YORK – At the heels of Obama administration’s revamped Afghan war strategy, the White House has authorised an expansion of the successful drone attacks of the CIA in the tribal areas of Pakistan, a leading American newspaper reported Friday.
“The White House has authorised an expansion of the CIA’s drone programme in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas, officials said this week, to parallel the (US) President’s decision, announced Tuesday, to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan,” The New York Times said in a report. The move is certain to anger the Pakistani people and escalate tensions between Pakistan and the United States.
According to the newspaper, American officials are talking with Pakistan about the possibility of striking in Balochistan for the first time – a highly sensitive move since it is outside the tribal areas – because that is where Afghan Taliban leaders are believed to hide.
The Times said that CIA officials consider it as a highly successful programme as drone attacks have been able to successfully eliminate a large number of terrorist leaders.
“One of Washington’s worst-kept secrets, the drone programme is quietly hailed by counter-terrorism officials as a resounding success, eliminating key terrorists and throwing their operations into disarray,” it said.
“But despite close cooperation from Pakistani intelligence, the programme has generated public anger in Pakistan, and some counterinsurgency experts wonder whether it does more harm than good,” the dispatch said.
Hundreds of militants, including Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, have been killed so far in the dozens of drone attacks inside Pakistan.
US officials told the Times they hope to eliminate any haven for militants in the region by increasing pressure on militants in Pakistan, while using ground forces in the Afghan region.
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