Trump may take a harder line with Pakistan and launch more drone attacks

U.S. president Donald Trump is said to be considering a hard-line approach to relations with Pakistan in order to crack down on Pakistan-based militants who are launching attacks in Afghanistan.

Two U.S. officials made the claim to Reuters. Possible moves being discussed include expanding U.S. drone strikes, withholding some aid, and even downgrading Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally. The two officials insisted on being anonymous. Other U.S. officials believe that hardening policy will not change Pakistan's behavior of support for militant groups, as they see them as key to having influence in Afghanistan. The U.S. strengthening ties with India, a prime foe of Pakistan, is also likely to prevent any breakthrough with Pakistan. U.S. officials said that they seek greater cooperation with Pakistan rather than any rupture of ties. However, adopting a hard line could very well end up rupturing ties. There is to be a review due by mid-July of policy in the region including of strategy to guide the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan.

The Pakistan embassy in Washington warned that the problems the U.S. and Afghan forces were facing in Afghanistan should not be blamed on Pakistan but on internal troubles within the country. The embassy also pointed to its own internal battle with militants often quite costly in terms of casualties. The press minister for the embassy Abid Saeed said: "Singling out Pakistan and pinning the entire blame on Pakistan for the situation in Afghanistan is neither fair nor accurate, nor is it borne out by the ground realities." However, experts say that more pressure is needed on militants within Pakistan who target Afghanistan or more U.S. troops will not be able to put enough pressure on the Taliban to negotiate a peace. The Taliban claim that they will not negotiate a peace in any event unless U.S. troops leave Afghanistan.

The new Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada issued a statement in which he said that the main obstacle to peace in Afghanistan was the presence of U.S. troops. He repeated what he said a year ago that before there could be peace, the U.S. and other foreign troops must leave Afghanistan. It is sixteen years now but the U.S. still thinks it can put pressure on the Taliban to sign a peace deal while foreign troops are still propping up the Afghan government.

Even though the U.S. was unable to defeat the Taliban with 100,000 troops in the country, apparently Trump thinks that by taking a harder line with Pakistan and sending a few thousand more troops to Afghanistan he is going to pressure the Taliban into making peace. The Afghan ambassador to the U.S., Hamdullah Mohib said that he thought that the US would take a harder line towards Pakistan than it has in the past. The result will probably be for Pakistan to create more difficulties for the U.S. in Afghanistan and also a point blank refusal to allow any drone attacks. A majority of the Pakistani public would support such a move.

The U.S. claims that the Pakistani spy agency the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has ties to the Haqqani network of militants who are thought to be responsible for some deadly attacks in Afghanistan. The Afghan government too has accused Pakistan as giving safe haven to the militants. Pakistan denies this. While there may be some truth to the accusations Pakistan has lost about 7,000 of its security forces and about 22,000 civilians as a result of militant activity since 2003.

There are some within the U.S. government and in various think tanks who do not consider Pakistan an ally at all. The U.S. has designated the Haggani network that Pakistan is alleged to support a terrorist organization in 2012. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen a top U.S. military officer told the U.S. Congress in 2011 that the Haqqani net was a veritable arm of the Pakistani ISI. David Sedney, who was Obama's deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan from 2009 to 2013 claims that Obama's attempt to make Pakistan a strategic partner failed miserably and said that it made Pakistan's behavior even worse. This appears very one-sided. Pakistan in effect allowed drone attacks on its territory in the face of tremendous political opposition. It also eventually carried out military operations in the territories that were quite costly in casualties for their security forces. The U.S. has unrealistic expectations of what Pakistan will do for it including giving up any influence on events in neighbouring Afghanistan through support of rebel forces there.

The U.S. has given considerable aid since 2002 $33 billion and that included Coalition Support Funds (CSF) that is meant to reimburse allies that incurred costs in supporting counter-insurgency operations. Pakistan did incur heavy costs in its operations in conflicts with various militant groups in the tribal areas of north-west Pakistan. However, the U.S. argues that Pakistan has failed to take action against the Haqqani network and last year withheld $300 million in CSF funding to Pakistan. US officials say the Trump administration may do the same. Moves such as this would encourage China to invest even more than the $60 billion it has already invested in Pakistan.

The U.S. is apparently considering drone attacks on the Haqqani network in Pakistan. This is simply asking for an aggressive response from Pakistan that could even involve shooting down U.S. drones. Just a few days ago Pakistan shot down an Iranian drone that strayed into Pakistani territory. Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakari said at the time that Pakistan would not tolerate any drone strikes in its territory as they violated the sovereignty of the country. In the past, it has seemed clear that Pakistan at the very least tolerated US drone attacks but should those attacks target groups that the Pakistani ISI support that tolerance could quickly evaporate and the U.S. could face a situation where its drones would actually be shot out of the sky. Even if that does not happen one could expect China to have increasing influence in Pakistan and even be involved in trying to establish peace in Afghanistan.

In January US drones kill 123 civilians 3 Al Qaeda

These numbers should probably be taken with a grain of salt but they are probably closer to the truth than many of the mainstream US reports that just claim so many militants were killed, period, end of story! It is not surprising that anti-US feeling in Pakistan is reaching a boiling point. The more civilians are killed the better the chances militants have of recruiting new converts. There seems to be little opposition to the use of drones in the US but then they do not cause any US civilian casualties.


This is from thenews(Pakistan)


US drones killed 123 civilians, three al-Qaeda men in January



By Amir Mir

LAHORE: Afghanistan-based US predators carried out a record number of 12 deadly missile strikes in the tribal areas of Pakistan in January 2010, of which 10 went wrong and failed to hit their targets, killing 123 innocent Pakistanis. The remaining two successful drone strikes killed three al-Qaeda leaders, wanted by the Americans.

The rapid increase in the US drone attacks in the Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan can be gauged from the fact that only two such strikes were carried out in January 2009, which killed 36 people. The highest number of drone attacks carried out in a single month in 2009 was six, which were conducted in December last year. But the dawn of the New Year has already seen a dozen such attacks.

The unprecedented rise in the predator strikes with the beginning of the year 2010 is being attributed to December 30, 2009 suicide bombing in the Khost area of Afghanistan bordering North Waziristan, which killed seven CIA agents. US officials later identified the bomber as Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian national linked to both al-Qaeda and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

In a subsequent posthumous video tape released by Al-Jazeera, Balawi claimed while sitting next to TTP Chief Commander Hakimullah Mehsud that he would blow himself up in the CIA base to avenge the killing of former TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud in a US drone attack. The consequent increase in US strikes, first in North Waziristan and then South Waziristan, specifically targeting the fugitive TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud clearly shows that revenge is the major motive for these attacks. The US intelligence sleuths stationed in Afghanistan are convinced the Khost suicide attack was planned in Waziristan with the help of the TTP. Therefore, it is believed Afghanistan-based American drones will continue to hunt the most wanted al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, especially Hakimullah, with a view to avenge the loss of the seven CIA agents and to raise morale of its forces in Afghanistan.

According to the data compiled by the interior ministry, the first US drone strike was conducted on January 1 which struck a vehicle near Ghundikala village in North Waziristan and killed four people. The second attack came on January 3, targeting the Mosakki village in North Waziristan, killing five people. Two separate missile strikes carried out on January 6 killed 35 people in Sanzalai village of North Waziristan. The fifth predator attack was carried out on January 8 in the Tappi village of North Waziristan, killing five people. The sixth attack on January 9 in Ismail Khan village of North Waziristan killed four people, including two al-Qaeda leaders. Mahmoud Mehdi Zeidan, the bodyguard for al-Qaeda leader Sayeed al-Masri, and Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim, who had been involved in hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in 1986, were reportedly killed in this missile strike.

The seventh US attack on January 14 in the Pasalkot village of North Waziristan killed 15 people, amidst rumours Hakimullah Mehsud could be among the dead.

The eighth drone attack came on January 15 in the Zannini village near Mir Ali in North Waziristan, killing 14 people, including an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist, Abdul Basit Usman, a Filipino wanted by the Americans. The ninth strike was carried out on January 17 in the Shaktoi area of South Waziristan, which killed 23 people. The tenth drone attack came on January 19 when two missiles were fired at a compound and vehicle in Booya village of Datakhel subdivision, 35km west of Miramshah, in North Waziristan, killing eight people. The eleventh strike carried out on January 29 targeting a compound belonging to the Haqqani network in the Muhammad Khel town of North Waziristan, killed six people. The twelfth and the last predator attack of the month came on January 30, killing nine people in the Lend Mohammad Khel area of North Waziristan.

Pakistan anger growing as Drone Strikes increase in Pakistan

I am really aghast at the lack of discussion of the moral and legal issues that drone strikes raise. These attacks make the operators of the drones police, judge, and often executioner. Intelligence upon which the attacks are based is often faulty and killing of innocents inevitable. As the article mentions no one is held accountable for the attacks. In fact the US does not even admit to them officially most of the time even though it is an open secret. Instead of questioning the morality and legality of the attacks most critics appeal to US self interest by noting that the attacks are counterproductive. But nothing seems to penetrate Obama's thick skull. Obama is absolutely as bad if not worse than Bush when it comes to warlike US foreign policy.


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Pakistan Anger Grows as Obama Steps Up Drone Strikes

Posted By Jason Ditz On January 14, 2010 @ 6:17 pm In Uncategorized 6 Comments

Long something quietly tolerated by the Pakistani government and ignored by the international community, the Obama Administration’s repeated escalation of drone strikes into Pakistan’s tribal areas has gotten too big to ignore, with six separate strikes in the first 14 days of the new year killing scores of people.

The attacks and perhaps worse, the ever present drones flying overheard across North Waziristan threatening further attacks are sewing increasing resentment among tribesmen, even as the massive civilian toll of the strikes is sparking outcry across Pakistan and increasingly, abroad.

Even the United Nations seems willing to get involved, with UN human rights investigator Philip Alston that the US needed to show more transparency with the strikes, particularly as the intensity of the strikes increases.

“When we were dealing with isolated cases I raised it with the United States,” Alston noted, “not that it is systematically using drones, it is becoming increasingly important to get that clarification.”

In 2009 the CIA launched 44 strikes into North and South Waziristan, but managed to kill no more than a handful of notable militants. And while the Pakistani government initially labeled virtually everyone slain as a “suspect,” they are increasingly conceding that there is no evidence to back up that suspicion, and that around 700 people, the vast, vast majority of the victims, were likely innocent civilians.

The extralegal killings of hundreds of people without any accountability or in many cases even admission of responsibility is not only harming American credibility with the Pakistani people, it is even straining relations with the Pakistani government, which was willing to quietly support the strikes before the tolls started to soar. Now even they are growing alarmed at the rate with which American missiles are flying into their territory.


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U.S> senators defend Pakistan drone attacks

There is never any discussion of the morality or legality of the use of drones among Americans or most Americans. The issue is only whether they work or not. Most critics simply note that the attacks may be counterproductive since they turn civilians against the US. However the US is already so unpopular in Pakistan that it probably doesn't matter to the US. What will Pakistan do anyway. It is heavily dependent on the US and would no doubt be bankrupt without US aid and the military also depends upon the US for weapons and supplies. Eventually, Pakistan could face an uprising or perhaps another military takeover.

U.S. senators defend Pakistan drone attacks
Michael Georgy

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S. senators on Friday defended American drone aircraft strikes in ally Pakistan, an issue likely to become more volatile if Washington intensifies the attacks to hunt down enemies after the bombing of CIA agents in Afghanistan.


Pakistan officially objects to the attacks on suspected al Qaeda and Taliban militants along its border with Afghanistan, saying they violate its sovereignty.

And Islamabad has pushed Washington to provide it with the drones to allow it to carry out its own attacks on Taliban insurgents, a move that could ease widespread anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.

"We don't agree on every issue. We believe that, as I have stated and as our government has stated, that it is one of many tools that we must use to try to defeat a very determined and terrible enemy," said U.S. Senator John McCain.

The United States has stepped up its attacks with pilotless drone aircraft attacks in Pakistan since a double agent blew himself up at a U.S. base in Afghanistan on December 30, killing seven CIA agents.

A drone strike on Friday evening, the sixth in the lawless North Waziristan region on the Afghan border since December 30, killed two militants, Pakistani security officials said.

The attack on the CIA was a huge intelligence failure and will pile pressure on the United States to kill high-profile militants based along the Afghan-Pakistan frontier.

The United States sees the drones as a highly effective weapon in a global hub for militants. The strikes have killed some prominent al Qaeda militants.

Many al Qaeda and Taliban members fled to northwestern Pakistan's ungoverned ethnic Pashtun belt after U.S.-led forces ousted Afghanistan's Taliban government in 2001. From there they have orchestrated insurgencies in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan has not objected to drone strikes that have killed militants fighting the Pakistani state, such as Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

But Pakistan does oppose strikes on strategic regional assets such as the Afghan Haqqani militant group, which had ties with Pakistan's ISI spy agency and would give it leverage in Afghanistan if the country is gripped by chaos again.

STRATEGIC COMPLEXITIES

At the same time the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani group is high on the U.S. hit list, and speculation is growing it may have been linked to the bomb attack on the CIA, illustrating the complexities and sensitivities in U.S.-Pakistani ties.

The drone issue was raised when a delegation of U.S. senators led by McCain met President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday. They have also met the prime minister, as well as army chief general Ashfaq Kayani. He is the pivotal figure because the military makes security decisions and effectively sets foreign policy.

Drone attacks are a politically charged issue between the United States and Pakistan, which Washington sees as the front-line state in its war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Pakistan fears the strikes could undermine efforts to deal with militancy because the civilian casualties inflame public anger and bolster support for the fighters.

Asked if he had the same concerns, McCain told reporters:

"There are elements operating in Pakistan that if allowed to do so would go to Afghanistan and kill Americans and destroy that government and re-establish Afghanistan as a base for attacks on the United States and our allies. That's what I understand."

The United States carried out 51 drone air strikes in Pakistan last year, killing about 460 people, including many foreign militants, according to a tally of reports from Pakistani officials and residents.

McCain suggested no other options were under consideration in the event that the drone strikes failed to deliver. Asked if he would support U.S. ground operations on Pakistani soil, McCain said he had never been briefed on that.

"I think it would have to be done in coordination and in agreement with the Pakistani government and military," he said.

Pakistan's reluctance to go after the Haqqani network, whose leader worked with the CIA in the 1980s against Soviet occupation troops in Afghanistan, has strained ties with Washington.

The U.S. embassy has accused Pakistan of taking provocative action and making false allegations against U.S. personnel. U.S. officials say Pakistan is also stalling their visa applications.

"We would like to see it resolved," said McCain.

Al Qaeda's Afghan wing claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, the second-most deadly attack in CIA history, saying it was revenge for the deaths of militant leaders, including Mehsud, who was killed in a drone attack. His death had not eased a raging Taliban insurgency grip

Obama the Drone King.

These attacks are virtually war crimes and at the very least targetted assasinations which past administrations have disavowed. Obama has made them key to his Af-Pak war surge. The attacks are inflaming anti-US sentiment and often kill innocent civilians. The results of the attacks in official pronouncements are almost always different than locals report. There is an almost complete lack of discussion of the legality or morality of these attacks. The only critique seems to be that they are counterproductive not that they are surely criminal acts. Of course it may be convenient to introduce the war frame to exculpate those involved from wrongdoing. How much nicer this is than carpet bombing or dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima so why complain.


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At Least Seven Killed as US Drones Launch Two Attacks in North Waziristan

Posted By Jason Ditz

Following last night’s drone attack on a North Waziristan tribesman’s home, which killed at least four people, US drones launched a second attack on a car, also on the outskirts of Miramshah, killing at least three more.

Officials say the identities of the seven people killed were unclear, but they said the three killed in the car were apparent militants, as other militants came to recover the bodies. The four in the house were called “suspects” by intelligence officials, but security officials said they had no evidence that they were involved in any wrongdoing.

The attacks raised the overall toll of drone attacks this week to 21, as a Monday drone attack against a compound belonging to the Haqqani family killed another 14 people and seriously wounded several others.

The US has been targeting the Haqqani network for a long time, and the group has been identified as the likely culprits behind this week’s attack on a CIA compound in Khost Province, Afghanistan, which borders North Waziristan.


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US missiles kill 13 more in Pakistan

Obama certainly deserves to be called the war president. The Afghan war is now the Af-Pak war with the US and Pakistani forces both involved in operations in Afghanistan but the US limited to drone attacks but also no doubt with some intelligence operatives and perhaps special forces and even contractors such as Xe (Blackwater).
Every official statement claims only militants were killed but local accounts almost always claim that civilians were killed or even only civilians were killed. This is from presstv.

US missiles mow down 13 in Pakistan

US drone attacks continue to claim lives in the Pakistani border area of North Waziristan amid Washington's failure to push Islamabad into major offensives on the area.

The surveillance aircraft on Saturday attacked the Saidgi village in the tribal area reportedly killing 13 people, AFP reported. The raid marked the third of such attacks over the past ten days.

Quoting a local intelligence official, CNN said the projectiles had hit a militant hideout and that the mortalities had all been militants.

Local Pakistani news outlets, however, said the missiles struck the “residential compound of” a local tribesman, Asmatullah.

Islamabad has launched major offensives in the neighboring South Waziristan as well as the other northwestern areas of Khyber and Swat under pressure from the US, whose large-scale military presence in Afghanistan is blamed to have sent the militants across the border into Pakistan.

The ongoing military hostilities in South Waziristan have prompted 80,000 people to flee the area. The United Nations has warned that 170,000 others could be rendered homeless during the battle that started in mid-October.

North Waziristan, which is yet to see such government action, has witnessed a rise in the US missile raids as the entire tribal belt is being allowed less and less of a respite from the drone attacks.

Since August 2008, at least 69 such strikes have killed about 663 people. Pakistani media outlets say civilians comprise a large part of the mortalities.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmoud Qureshi on Tuesday condemned the attacks as "counterproductive and unhelpful in our joint efforts towards winning hearts and minds, which is essential to succeed against violent extremism."

Reports, however, allege that US drones take off from airbases located inside Pakistan's territory, pointing to suspected compromises on the part of Islamabad.

Drone attack in Pakistan part of Obama's surge in Pakistan!

There seems to be little discussion of the legality or the morality of the use of drones. Obama is using them much more than Bush ever did and now is escalating their use. The same claims about Al Qaeda leaders being killed are made. By now some Al Qaeda leaders such as are left are killed many times over it would seem. As for civilian deaths they are usually not mentioned. The ratio of civilians killed to militants is quite high according to some sources.

This is from antiwar.com


Tuesday Drone Attack Part of ‘Stepped Up Campaign’ Against Pakistan

Posted By Jason Ditz

Tuesday’s US drone attack against a car in Aspalga Village is said to be the first volley in the Obama Administration’s latest approved escalation of the air war against Pakistan’s tribal areas.

The plan, never formally announced by US officials but repeatedly confirmed by anonymous officials since President Obama announced the Afghan escalation, is in no small measure controversial, the Pakistani government has warned that the attacks would further fuel anti-US sentiment and that their cooperation with the drone strikes “had limits.”

But officials are saying its “possible” that a high ranking al-Qaeda figure who is neither Osama bin Laden nor Ayman al-Zawahri was killed in the Tuesday, one of those convenient high profile targets reported slain whenever the Pakistani government starts seeming restless about the policy.

But such claims must be taken with a grain of salt at this point, as Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Hakimullah Mehsud has been “killed” at least three times in the last several months, and is none the worse for wear for it.

White House Split on Drone Strikes Against Balochistan

This is from antiwar.com.

As this article points out not only is there a problem in Buner but there is an even worse situation in Balochistan one ignored in the media. Some in the Obama administration including no doubt Obama himself want to extend drone attacks to kill some militant leaders who are in Balochistan. However, the area is already rife with separatist strife and US drone attacks would make things much worse. For some reason this seems to be the general policy that Obama has taken throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan. He even accelerated military involvement while having a policy review of the Afghan war! Some review that! However, the US probably will not carry out drone attacks against refugee camps. However, they might look the other way if the Pakistani forces attacked them.




White House Split on Drone Strikes Against Balochistan
Posted By Jason Ditz
While today’s drone attack on South Waziristan Agency underscored the Obama Administration’s eagerness to continue hitting militants inside Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the long-reported calls to attack Balochistan are being met with far more controversy.
Proponents say that much of the Taliban’s top leadership has taken up residence in and around the Baloch capital of Quetta. However the concern is that, while Pakistan has secretly backed the FATA strikes, they have managed to drive the ill-controlled mountainous hinterland into a constant state of opposition to the central government. The much larger Balochistan province, already struggling with a growing separatist movement, could hardly bare the repeatedly US bombardment the Waziristan agencies have, nor is Pakistan likely to stand aside while one of its major cities is attacked. The provincial governor is already warning that the situation could rapidly wind up out of control.
What’s more the Taliban are believed to be staying in the Afghan refugee camps around Quetta, and while it’s hardly without precedent, American planes attacking a camp teeming with innocent civilian refugees of an American war would be, to quote one former State Department official, “a real human rights controversy.”
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Drone attacks kill more civilians than Al Qaeda

This is from thenews(Pakistan)
A detailed look at the magnitude of the drone attacks. There is not all that much coverage of the issue in the western press. Obama is carrying on and even extending the Bush drone policy. The Pakistani govt. is obviously two faced. Internally the issue forces them to constantly criticise the attacks but still most of the flights actually originate from Pakistani air fields and it seems that the Pakistanis have tried to get the US to assasinate a Pakistani militant leader using the drones!



60 drone hits kill 14 al-Qaeda men, 687 civilians

Amir MirLAHORE:
Of the 60 cross-border predator strikes carried out by the Afghanistan-based American drones in Pakistan between January 14, 2006 and April 8, 2009, only 10 were able to hit their actual targets, killing 14 wanted al-Qaeda leaders, besides perishing 687 innocent Pakistani civilians. The success percentage of the US predator strikes thus comes to not more than six per cent.Figures compiled by the Pakistani authorities show that a total of 701 people, including 14 al-Qaeda leaders, have been killed since January 2006 in 60 American predator attacks targeting the tribal areas of Pakistan. Two strikes carried out in 2006 had killed 98 civilians while three attacks conducted in 2007 had slain 66 Pakistanis, yet none of the wanted al-Qaeda or Taliban leaders could be hit by the Americans right on target. However, of the 50 drone attacks carried out between January 29, 2008 and April 8, 2009, 10 hit their targets and killed 14 wanted al-Qaeda operatives. Most of these attacks were carried out on the basis of intelligence believed to have been provided by the Pakistani and Afghan tribesmen who had been spying for the US-led allied forces stationed in Afghanistan.The remaining 50 drone attacks went wrong due to faulty intelligence information, killing hundreds of innocent civilians, including women and children. The number of the Pakistani civilians killed in those 50 attacks stood at 537, in which 385 people lost their lives in 2008 and 152 people were slain in the first 99 days of 2009 (between January 1 and April 8).Of the 50 drone attacks, targeting the Pakistani tribal areas since January 2008, 36 were carried out in 2008 and 14 were conducted in the first 99 days of 2009. Of the 14 attacks targeting Pakistan in 2009, three were carried out in January, killing 30 people, two in February killing 55 people, five in March killing 36 people and four were conducted in the first nine days of April, killing 31 people.Of the 14 strikes carried out in the first 99 days of April 2009, only one proved successful, killing two most wanted senior al-Qaeda leaders - Osama al Kini and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan. Both had lost their lives in a New Year’s Day drone strike carried out in the South Waziristan region on January 1, 2009.Kini was believed to be the chief operational commander of al-Qaeda in Pakistan and had replaced Abu Faraj Al Libi after his arrest from Bannu in 2004. Both men were behind the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Dares Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, which killed 224 civilians and wounded more than 5,000 others.There were 36 recorded cross-border US predator strikes inside Pakistan during 2008, of which 29 took place after August 31, 2008, killing 385 people. However, only nine of the 36 strikes hit their actual targets, killing 12 wanted al-Qaeda leaders. The first successful predator strike had killed Abu Laith al Libi, a senior military commander of al-Qaeda who was targeted in North Waziristan on January 29, 2008. The second successful attack in Bajaur had killed Abu Sulayman Jazairi, al-Qaeda’s external operations chief, on March 14, 2008. The third attack in South Waziristan on July 28, 2008, had killed Abu Khabab al Masri, al-Qaeda’s weapons of mass destruction chief. The fourth successful attack in South Waziristan on August 13, 2008, had killed al-Qaeda leader Abdur Rehman.The fifth predator strike carried out in North Waziristan near Miranshah on Sept 8, 2008 had killed three al-Qaeda leaders, Abu Haris, Abu Hamza, and Zain Ul Abu Qasim. The sixth successful predator hit in the South Waziristan region on October 2008 had killed Khalid Habib, a key leader of al-Qaeda’s paramilitary Shadow Army. The seventh such attack conducted in North Waziristan on October 31, 2008 had killed Abu Jihad al Masri, a top leader of the Egyptian Islamic group. The eighth successful predator strike had killed al-Qaeda leader Abdullah Azzam al Saudi in east of North Waziristan on November 19, 2008.The ninth and the last successful drone attack of 2008, carried out in the Ali Khel region just outside Miramshah in North Waziristan on November 22, 2008, had killed al-Qaeda leader Abu Zubair al Masri and his Pakistani fugitive accomplice Rashid Rauf.According to the figures compiled by the Pakistani authorities, a total of 537 people have been killed in 50 incidents of cross-border US predator strikes since January 1, 2008 to April 8, 2009, averaging 34 killings per month and 11 killings per attack. The average per month killings in predator strikes during 12 months of 2008 stood at 32 while the average per attack killings in the 36 drone strikes for the same year stood at 11.Similarly, 152 people have been killed in 14 incidents of cross-border predator attacks in the tribal areas in the first 99 days of 2009, averaging 38 killings per month and 11 killings per attack.Since September 3, 2008, it appears that the Americans have upped their attacks in Pakistani tribal areas in a bid to disrupt the al-Qaeda and the Taliban network, which they allege is being used to launch cross border ambushes against the Nato forces in Afghanistan.The American forces stationed in Afghanistan carried out nine aerial strikes between September 3 and September 25, 2008, killing 57 people and injuring 38 others. The attacks were launched on September 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 15, 17, 22 and September 27. However, the September 3, 2008 American action was unique in the sense that two CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters landed in the village of Zawlolai in the South Waziristan Agency with ground troops from the US Special Operation Forces, fired at three houses and killed 17, including five women and four sleeping children.Besides the two helicopters carrying the US Special Forces Commandos, two jet fighters and two gun-ship helicopters provided the air cover for the half-an-hour American operation, more than a kilometre inside the Pakistani border.The last predator strike on [April 8, 2009] was carried out hardly a few hours after the Pakistani authorities had rejected an American proposal for joint operations in the tribal areas against terrorism and militancy, as differences of opinion between the two countries over various aspects of the war on terror came out into the open for the first time.The proposal came from two top US visiting officials, presidential envoy for the South Asia Richard Holbrooke and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen. However, the Pakistani military and political leadership reportedly rejected the proposal and adopted a tough posture against a barrage of increasing US predator strikes and criticism emanating from Washington, targeting the Pakistan Army and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and creating doubts about their sincerity in the war on terror and the fight against al-Qaeda and Taliban.

Rabbani: US Drone Attacks Violation of Pakistan's Sovereignty

This is from the DailyTimes (Pakistan).
No doubt the attacks are a violation of international law. The US is the global cop, judge, and executioner all in one and able to cause collateral damage and deaths with impunity. The Pakistan govt. objects constantly to these attacks even though the drones oftent take off and land at bases in Pakistan! Also, it seems that Pakistan has covertly urged the US to use the drones to try and assasinate Mehsud a leader of Islamic militants in Pakistan.




US drone attacks violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty: Rabbani
* Parliamentary committee chairman says parliament should send strong message to visiting US envoy * Says objections to committee’s pace will be negated Staff ReportISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on National Security on Monday termed US drone attacks in Pakistani territory against the sovereignty of the country and demanded an immediate end to such attacks.“The committee feels that since Richard Holbrooke, the special US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, is in the capital, a strong message should go from parliament that it will not compromise on its sovereignty,” Senator Raza Rabbani told reporters after chairing the committee meeting at Parliament House. He said drone attacks were counterproductive and the Pakistan government would take up the issue with the new US administration aggressively at every available forum. “The foreign minister will raise this issue with Holbrooke during their meeting,” he added.“Being a representative of a democratic government, we hope Holbrooke will respect the sentiments of Pakistan’s parliament. The committee has made it clear that drone attacks inside Pakistan are unacceptable,” he said. He said the committee had made substantial progress during Monday’s meeting and hoped it would finalise its interim recommendations by today (Tuesday). “I hope that these recommendations will be submitted before parliament in the forthcoming sessions of the National Assembly and Senate,” he added.Not slow: Rabbani said Senator Afrasiab Khattak had briefed the committee on the latest law and order situation in FATA and NWFP. However, he refused to share details with reporters, saying these were in-camera briefings. He also dispelled the impression the committee was moving at “a snail’s pace”. “We do not have a magic wand. It is a very complex, multi-faceted and multi-dimensional issue involving state and non-state actors. We are trying to prepare workable recommendations keeping all aspects in view. All objections in this regard will be diluted when interim recommendations come forward,” he added.To questions about the public flogging of a girl by Taliban in Swat, the senator said it was not appropriate to discuss this issue, as the Supreme Court had already taken it up. He said law enforcement agencies were also conducting an inquiry into the matter.

Thousands flee bomb attacks by US drones

This massive humanitarian emergency gets little play in the western press. This is from the Timesonline.
This internal migration is caused not simply by drone attacks but by the scorched earth policy of the Pakistan military who simply level villages controlled by militants. Almost nothing is said about this policy arguably a war crime. The Pakistan situation is simply being exacerbated by the emphasis on the war on terror. On this issue there are obvious division both within the armed forces and especially the intelligence services.


From The Sunday Times
April 5, 2009
Thousands flee bomb attacks by US drones
Daud Khattakin and Christina Lamb
AMERICAN drone attacks on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan are causing a massive humanitarian emergency, Pakistani officials claimed after a new attack yesterday killed 13 people.
The dead and injured included foreign militants, but women and children were also killed when two missiles hit a house in the village of Data Khel, near the Afghan border, according to local officials.
As many as 1m people have fled their homes in the Tribal Areas to escape attacks by the unmanned spy planes as well as bombings by the Pakistani army. In Bajaur agency entire villages have been flattened by Pakistani troops under growing American pressure to act against Al-Qaeda militants, who have made the area their base.
Kacha Garhi is one of 11 tented camps across Pakistan’s frontier province once used by Afghan refugees and now inhabited by hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis made homeless in their own land.
So far 546,000 have registered as internally displaced people (IDPs) according to figures provided by Rabia Ali, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Maqbool Shah Roghani, administrator for IDPs at the Commission for Afghan Refugees.
The commissioner’s office says there are thousands more unregistered people who have taken refuge with relatives and friends or who are in rented accommodation.
Jamil Amjad, the commissioner in charge of the refugees, says the government is running short of resources to feed and shelter such large numbers. A fortnight ago two refugees were killed and six injured in clashes with police during protests over shortages of water, food and tents.
On the road outside Kacha Garhi camp, eight-year-old Zafarullah and his little brother are among a number of children begging for coins and scraps. “I want to go back to my village and school,” he said.
With the attacks increasing, refugees have little hope of returning home and conditions in the camps will worsen as summer approaches and the temperatures soar.
Many have terrible stories. Baksha Zeb lost everything when his village, Anayat Kalay in Bajaur, was demolished by Pakistani forces. His eight-year-old son is a kidney patient needing dialysis and he has been left with no means to pay.
“Our houses have been flattened, our cattle killed and our farms and crops destroyed,” he complained. “There is not a single structure in my village still standing. There is no way we can go back.”
He sold his taxi to pay for food for his family and treatment for his son but the money has almost run out. “God bestowed me with a son after 15 years of marriage,” he said. “Now I have no job and I don’t know how we will survive.”
Pakistani forces say they have killed 1,500 militants since launching antiTaliban operations in Bajaur in August. Locals who fled claim that only civilians were killed.
Zeb said he saw dozens of his friends and relatives killed. Villagers were forced to leave bodies unburied as they fled.
Pakistani officials say drone attacks have been stepped up since President Barack Obama took office in Washington, killing at least 81 people. A suicide attacker blew himself up inside a paramilitary base in Islamabad, killing six soldiers and wounding five yesterday.

Biden Indicates US Attacks in Pakistan Will Continue

More Bush policies. As the article notes the policy of no comment on the attacks follows precisely the same nonsensical stone-walling that the Bushies used. These attacks produce recruits for the jihadist movement and stoke already strong anti-US feeling in Pakistan. Pakistan is in such dire straits economically that it probably feels helpless to take any real action against the US policy and jeopardize US aid.

Biden Indicates US Attacks in Pakistan will continue.
New VP Won't Comment on Latest Strikes
Posted January 25, 2009



Answering questions about US policy with respect to its ongoing attacks in Pakistan, Vice President Joe Biden pointed reporters to President Obama’s comments during the campaign that “if there is an actionable target, of a high-level Al-Qaeda personnel, that he would not hesitate to use action to deal with that.”
As far as last week’s attacks in North and South Waziristan, which killed 22 people including a number of children, Biden declared that “I can’t speak to any particular attack. I can’t speak to any particular action. It’s not appropriate for me to do that.” Pakistan has repeatedly complained about the attacks, saying they undermine the nation’s efforts to isolate militant groups along the border region.
Between the election and the inauguration, the incoming Obama Administration often insisted it was inappropriate to talk about foreign policy issues. It was assumed, given President Obama’s insistence that “there’s been too much secrecy” in government, that the new administration would be at least somewhat more open with its assorted attacks. Yet every official asked about the killings has given the same refrain, so common during the Bush Administration: no comment.

Pakistan urges Obama to halt missile attacks

This is from antiwar.com.

It seems that on use of drones both Obama and Bush are on the same wave length. Both Democrats and Republicans are hawks on the war on terror. Obama does wish to do away with some of the most glaring injustices of the Bush era in terms of interrogation and Guantanamo but otherwise in Afghanistan and Pakistan it is business as usual. In Afghanistan there is clearly a ramping up of activity and Obama's very own surge. In Afghanistan too there are constant complaints about air attacks. As with Bush, Obama's administration refuses even to admit to the drone attacks a ludicrous policy.

Pakistan urges Obama to halt missile attacks
Pakistan urges Obama to halt missile strikes, says latest attack killed civilians
ASIF SHAHZADAP News
Jan 24, 2009 11:52 EST
Pakistan urged President Barack Obama to halt U.S. missile strikes on al-Qaida strongholds near the Afghan border, saying Saturday that civilians were killed the previous day in the first attacks since Obama's inauguration.


Pakistani security officials said eight suspected foreign militants, including an Egyptian al-Qaida operative, were among 22 people killed in Friday's twin strikes in the Waziristan region.
But the Foreign Ministry said that the attacks by unmanned aircraft also killed an unspecified number of civilians and that it had informed U.S. officials of its "great concern."
"With the advent of the new U.S. administration, it is Pakistan's sincere hope that the United States will review its policy and adopt a more holistic and integrated approach toward dealing with the issue of terrorism and extremism," a ministry statement said.
"We maintain that these attacks are counterproductive and should be discontinued," it said.
Pakistani leaders complain that stepped-up missile strikes — there have been more than 30 since August — fan anti-American sentiment and undermine the government's own efforts to counter Islamist militants.
But their protests have had few practical consequences, fueling speculation that Islamabad's cash-strapped, pro-U.S. government has given tacit approval in return for political and financial support from Washington.
Obama has not commented on the missile strike policy.
However, he has made the war in Afghanistan and the intertwined al-Qaida fight in Pakistan an immediate foreign policy priority. Few observers expect him to ditch a tactic that U.S. officials say has killed a string of militant leaders behind the insurgency in Afghanistan — and who were perhaps plotting terrorist attacks in the West.
Three intelligence officials told The Associated Press that funerals were held Saturday for nine Pakistanis killed Friday in Zharki, a village in the North Waziristan region.
The officials, citing reports from field agents and residents, said Taliban fighters had earlier removed the bodies of five suspected foreign militants who also died in the first missile strike Friday. Initial reports put the death toll from that attack at 10.
A senior security official in the capital, Islamabad, identified one of the slain men as a suspected al-Qaida operative called Mustafa al-Misri. He said it was unclear if the man was a significant figure.
The second strike hit a house in the South Waziristan region. Residents and security officials say eight people died in the village of Gangi Khel.
Resident Allah Noor Wazir said he attended funerals for the owner of the targeted house, Din Faraz, his three sons and a guest.
"I also heard that three bodies had been taken away by Taliban. They say they belong to foreigners," Wazir told the AP by telephone.
The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The United States does not directly acknowledge firing the missiles, which are believed to be mostly fired from drones operated by the CIA and launched from neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistan's government has little control over the border region, which is considered a likely hiding place for al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders.
While protesting the missile strikes, Pakistan's government on Saturday also welcomed Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
A Foreign Ministry statement Saturday said the move was a step toward "upholding the primacy of the rule of law" and would add a "much-needed moral dimension in dealing with terrorism."
Pakistan helped the United States round up hundreds of militants in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, including several al-Qaida leaders still incarcerated at Guantanamo.
___

Pakistan and U.S. have tacit Deal on Airstrikes.

Note that there is no official confirmation of anything just anonymous officials. However, that there is a tacit deal would explain why the U.S. pays no attention to Pakistani demands that the raids stop. It could be though that articles such as this are meant to justify the US raids as well. Whatever is the case the raids fan anti-Americanism and are probably counterproductive. They could very well result in even more problems for the Pakistan government already beset by severe economic difficulties. This is from the Washington Post.



Pakistan and U.S. Have Tacit Deal On Airstrikes
By Karen DeYoung and Joby WarrickWashington Post Staff WritersSunday, November 16, 2008; A01
The United States and Pakistan reached tacit agreement in September on a don't-ask-don't-tell policy that allows unmanned Predator aircraft to attack suspected terrorist targets in rugged western Pakistan, according to senior officials in both countries. In recent months, the U.S. drones have fired missiles at Pakistani soil at an average rate of once every four or five days.
The officials described the deal as one in which the U.S. government refuses to publicly acknowledge the attacks while Pakistan's government continues to complain noisily about the politically sensitive strikes.
The arrangement coincided with a suspension of ground assaults into Pakistan by helicopter-borne U.S. commandos. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said in an interview last week that he was aware of no ground attacks since one on Sept. 3 that his government vigorously protested.
Officials described the attacks, using new technology and improved intelligence, as a significant improvement in the fight against Pakistan-based al-Qaeda and Taliban forces. Officials confirmed the deaths of at least three senior al-Qaeda figures in strikes last month.
Zardari said that he receives "no prior notice" of the airstrikes and that he disapproves of them. But he said he gives the Americans "the benefit of the doubt" that their intention is to target the Afghan side of the ill-defined, mountainous border of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), even if that is not where the missiles land.
Civilian deaths remain a problem, Zardari said. "If the damage is women and children, then the sensitivity of its effect increases," he said. The U.S. "point of view," he said, is that the attacks are "good for everybody. Our point of view is that it is not good for our position of winning the hearts and minds of people."
A senior Pakistani official said that although the attacks contribute to widespread public anger in Pakistan, anti-Americanism there is closely associated with President Bush. Citing a potentially more favorable popular view of President-elect Barack Obama, he said that "maybe with a new administration, public opinion will be more pro-American and we can start acknowledging" more cooperation.
The official, one of several who discussed the sensitive military and intelligence relationship only on the condition of anonymity, said the U.S-Pakistani understanding over the airstrikes is "the smart middle way for the moment." Contrasting Zardari with his predecessor, retired Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the official said Musharraf "gave lip service but not effective support" to the Americans. "This government is delivering but not taking the credit."
From December to August, when Musharraf stepped down, there were six U.S. Predator attacks in Pakistan. Since then, there have been at least 19. The most recent occurred early Friday, when local officials and witnesses said at least 11 people, including six foreign fighters, were killed. The attack, in North Waziristan, one of the seven FATA regions, demolished a compound owned by Amir Gul, a Taliban commander said to have ties to al-Qaeda.
Pakistan's self-praise is not entirely echoed by U.S. officials, who remain suspicious of ties between Pakistan's intelligence service and FATA-based extremists. But the Bush administration has muted its criticism of Pakistan. In a speech to the Atlantic Council last week, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden effusively praised Pakistan's recent military operations, including "tough fighting against hardened militants" in the northern FATA region of Bajaur.
"Throughout the FATA," Hayden said, "al-Qaeda and its allies are feeling less secure today than they did two, three or six months ago. It has become difficult for them to ignore significant losses in their ranks." Hayden acknowledged, however, that al-Qaeda remains a "determined, adaptive enemy," operating from a "safe haven" in the tribal areas.
Along with the stepped-up Predator attacks, Bush administration strategy includes showering Pakistan's new leaders with close, personal attention. Zardari met with Bush during the U.N. General Assembly in September, and senior military and intelligence officials have exchanged near-constant visits over the past few months.
Pakistan's new intelligence chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, traveled to Washington in late October, and Gen. David H. Petraeus, installed on Oct. 31 as head of the U.S. Central Command, visited Islamabad on his third day in office. On Wednesday, Hayden flew to New York for a secret visit with Zardari, who was attending a U.N. conference.
Zardari spoke over the telephone with Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), a conversation Pakistani officials said they considered an initial contact with the incoming Obama administration. Although Kerry has been mentioned as a possible secretary of state, the officials said he indicated that he expects to continue in the Senate, where he is in line to take over Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s position as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.
Despite improved relations with the Bush administration, Zardari said, "we think we need a new dialogue, and we're hoping that the new government will . . . understand that Pakistan has done more than they recognize" and is a victim of the same insurgency the United States is fighting. Pakistan hopes that a $7.6 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, announced yesterday, will spark new international investment and aid.
Pakistan, whose military has received more than $10 billion in direct U.S. payments since 2001, also wants the United States to provide sophisticated weapons to its armed forces, Zardari said. Rather than using U.S. Predator-fired missiles against Pakistani territory, he asked, why not give Pakistan its own Predators? "Give them to us. . . . we are your allies," he said.
Last month, officials confirmed, Predator strikes in the FATA killed Khalid Habib, described as al-Qaeda's No. 4 official, and senior operatives Abu Jihad al-Masri and Abu Hassan al-Rimi. Three other senior al-Qaeda figures -- explosives expert Abu Khabab al-Masri, Abu Sulayman al-Jazairi and senior commander Abu Laith al-Libi --were killed during the first nine months of the year.
Current and former U.S. counterterrorism officials said improved intelligence has been an important factor in the increased tempo and precision of the Predator strikes. Over the past year, they said, the United States has been able to improve its network of informants in the border region while also fielding new hardware that allows close tracking of the movements of suspected militants.
The missiles are fired from unmanned aircraft by the CIA. But the drones are only part of a diverse network of machines and software used by the agency to spot terrorism suspects and follow their movements, the officials said. The equipment, much of which remains highly classified, includes an array of powerful sensors mounted on satellites, airplanes, blimps and drones of every size and shape.
Before 2002, the CIA had no experience in using the Predator as a weapon. But in recent years -- and especially in the past 12 months -- spy agencies have honed their skills at tracking and killing single individuals using aerial vehicles operated by technicians hundreds or thousands of miles away. James R. Clapper Jr., the Pentagon's chief intelligence officer, said the new brand of warfare has "gotten very laserlike and very precise."
"It's having the ability, once you know who you're after, to study and watch very steadily and consistently -- persistently," Clapper told a recent gathering of intelligence professionals and contractors in Nashville. "And then, at the appropriate juncture, with due regard for reducing collateral casualties or damage, going after that individual."
Two former senior intelligence officials familiar with the use of the Predator in Pakistan said the rift between Islamabad and Washington over the unilateral attacks was always less than it seemed.
"By killing al-Qaeda, you're helping Pakistan's military and you're disrupting attacks that could be carried out in Karachi and elsewhere," said one official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Pakistan's new acquiescence coincided with the new government there and a sharp increase in domestic terrorist attacks, including the September bombing of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad.
"The attacks inside Pakistan have changed minds," the official said. "These guys are worried, as they should be."
Staff writer Colum Lynch at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Pakistani PM: Next U.S. leader must stop missile attacks.

Neither Obama nor McCain have given any indication that they will change policy on attacks in Pakistan. If anything Obama is the more hawkish. I can't see why Americans think that Obama is an agent of change. He has neo-con advisers and is cheerleader for US imperialism just as much as Bush ever was. Perhaps Obama is a bit more progressive on domestic issues and may actually use the government to help people in some ways such as guaranteeing mortgages but on the foreign policy front he is a disaster waiting to happen. He will pull troops from Iraq only to send them to Afghanistan to fight a fruitless battle there.


Next U.S. leader must stop missile attacks: Pakistan
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 4, 2008 7:09 AM ET
CBC News
The next American president must develop a policy to deal with Pakistan that halts missile strikes on insurgent targets in the country's northwest, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Tuesday.
"No matter who the president of America will be, if he doesn't respect the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan … anti-America sentiments and anti-West sentiment will be there," Gilani said.
U.S. missile strikes on insurgent targets are inflaming anti-American sentiment in the country, Gilani told the Associated Press.
Gilani met with U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, who is making his first tour of the region since taking over U.S. Central Command last week, and delivered the same message but got no guarantee the attacks would end, he said.
Petraeus has also met with President Asif Ali Zardari, army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and other senior Pakistani leaders.
Uneasy allies
Pakistan and the United States have been uneasy allies in the American-led war on terror but tensions over the alleged cross-border attacks have tested relations between the two countries.
Over the last two months, the United States has launched at least 17 strikes on militant targets in the region of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan.
The strikes have reportedly killed at least 168 people, many of whom were civilians, according to Pakistani officials.
Shaping a policy to deal with the militant threat in nuclear-armed Pakistan and its new civilian leaders will be a key task for the next U.S. president, Gilani said, as Americans were heading to the polls on Tuesday.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has said if he is elected, he could launch unilateral attacks on high-value terrorist targets in Pakistan as they become exposed and "if Pakistan cannot or will not act" against them.
Republican rival John McCain has said engaging Pakistanis is vital to defeating extremists and that cross-border strikes shouldn't be discussed "out loud."
The mountainous tribal area bordering Afghanistan is a known haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants and is also believed to be the possible hiding place of Osama bin Laden.
The United States has alleged the groups use the area to mount attacks against American and NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Washington has urged Pakistan to assert control in the region and take stiffer action against militants. There's been growing concern in the U.S. that Pakistan is unwilling or incapable of rooting out extremists in its border region.
But some Pakistani leaders and citizens have condemned American-led operations that have crossed the border as a violation of the country's sovereignty.
Attacks uniting militants: Gilani
The attacks are "uniting the militants with the tribes. How can you fight a war without the support of the people?" Gilani said.
The U.S. should share intelligence with the Pakistan military so the country can go after targets itself, Gilani said.
"Either they should trust us and they should work with us, otherwise, I think it's a futile exercise," he said.
He added the continued U.S. missile strikes are a distraction from Pakistan's own anti-insurgent operations, which are being conducted in the country's northwest.
"Their strategy is not coinciding with our strategy," Gilani said. "Our strategy is to take one area at one time."