Drone attacks increased - Opportunities fading for the dying Allied and U.S.Z forces

Source: Pakistan Cyber Force

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The Drones have outlived their utility. The U.S.Z used the drones to pressure President Musharraf and the Pakistan army to move against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Today 90% of Afghanistan is owned by the Taliban–they don’t need any sanctuary in Pakistan. Another reason for the drones was to put pressure on the ISI. Today the U.S.Z wants to use the good offices of the Pakistani intelligence services to bring the players.

The window of opportunity for the Americans is closing. Millions of Dollars in aid to Pakistan is negated by one drone strike. The U.S.Z must come clean on the drones. Who are they attacking and why? They are talking to the Taliban, so why are they attacking Pakistan? At last count Al-Qaeda was estimated at a few dozen men. Why then is there a flurry of attacks on Pakistan?

The drone attacks do not make any sense at all. With the U.S.Z withdrawal beginning next summer, the attacks are counter-productive and do not help U.S.Z goals in the area.

The Dragon Drone

A barrage of drone strikes in parts of North Waziristan 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 Pakistan from remaining a safe haven for groups inclined to attacking the U.S.Z.

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 Waziristan, areas believed to be largely Haqqani strongholds. Keep this in mind that Haqqani is one of the PRO-PAKISTAN original afghan taliban group that has never shown any hostility in the region what-so-ever.

This indicates that the pursuit of the so called "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 Waziristan, the Pakistani Taliban are believed to be biased towards CIA's subversive interests in the area and as such would never be in the cross-hairs of the U.S.Z drones.

When the strikes in North Waziristan are considered along with U.S.Z pressure on militants in eastern Afghanistan, the other side of the border from North Waziristan in particular, it becomes evident that America is willing to act even in the absence of the much- demanded military operation in North Waziristan. The window for America to produce military results is closing and closing fast.

These drones are controlled from CIA headquarters in America

U.S.Z 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 Pakistani puppets.

Ideally, the U.S.Z should transfer drone technology to Pakistan 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 Pakistani bombers could mean greater collateral damage.

Navigating over border

Enticing Fury

Pakistan Cyber Force