Security

Dozen Dead in Latest Pakistan Drone Strike

For the third time in a week, American drones have struck suspected militants in Pakistan. The latest attack killed at least a dozen, as a pair of missiles hit what is believed to be a Taliban training camp in Zangara, a village in the South Waziristan tribal region. The area is under the control of […]

For the third time in a week, American drones have struck suspected militants in Pakistan. The latest attack killed at least a dozen, as a pair of missiles hit what is believed to be a Taliban training camp in Zangara, a village in the South Waziristan tribal region.

The area is under the control of notorious Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who has become pubic enemy #1 for both American and Pakistani forces after a series of deadly terrorist incidents -- including the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. On Friday, another 13 people died after a pair of drone strikes on Mehsud's turf. Ten days before that, unmanned attacks killed at least 55 in an assault on a Taliban funeral in the region.

Today's daytime strike "totally destroyed... six to seven rooms of the militants’ compound," a local intelligence official tells the New York Times. And it takes place as the Pakistani military is in the opening phase of its operation to destroy Baitullah's network in South Waziristan," the Long War Journal reports. "The military has conducted air and artillery attacks to soften up Taliban positions and in late June was reported to be moving ground troops forward while working to secure the main road in the tribal agency. The military has been bombing Taliban positions and conducting artillery strikes for over three weeks." (AfPax Insider has exclusive video from inside one of those South Waziristan camps, under assault from Pakistani jets.)

Hours after the drone attack, Pakistani aircraft bombed militant positions around 25 miles away, according to the Associated Press. "Yet the army insisted it was not coordinating the missile strikes with Washington and reiterated its opposition to them."

"It hurts the campaign rather than helps," said Maj. Gen Athar Abbas, arguing that they alienate local tribes whose support the military needs to defeat Mehsud.

It's a concern shared by American counterinsurgency analysts. Yet Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Steven Simon believes the unmanned attacks are still worth the risk.

The logic of this strategy is straightforward. "In the past, you could take out the number 3 al Qaeda leader, and number 4 just moved up to take his place," says one official. "Well, if you take out number 3, number 4, and then 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, it suddenly becomes a lot more difficult to revive the leadership cadre." In consequence, "the enemy is really, really struggling," says one senior U.S. counterterrorism official, who notes "a significant, significant degradation of al Qaeda command and control in recent months." These same officials say that al Qaeda's leadership cadre has been "decimated" and that it is possible to foresee a "complete al Qaeda defeat" in Pakistan. By its third day in office, the Obama administration had decided to press on with this program. Its fiscal year 2010 spending request -- which asks for $79.7 million for 792 Hellfire missiles and $489.4 million for 24 Reapers, nearly double the number requested in fiscal year 2009 -- points to an increased use of drones.

The killer drones continue to find targets on the other side of the Durand Line, as well. On July 4th, a Predator dropped a 500-pound bomb on a group of "hostile gunmen," who "had fired on a friendly unit with rocket-propelled grenades and assault weapons before the unmanned aircraft identified and targeted them," the Air Force said in a statement. Meanwhile, a second "Predator employed a Hellfire missile against a group of anti-Afghan forces personnel who had engaged coalition ground troops with RPGs and a long-barreled firearm."

*[*Photo: USAF]

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