Pakistan Conflict Monitor

Drones Hinder Operations, but Help Recruitment: Taliban

Mapping US Drone and Islamic Militant Attacks in Pakistan: Secret War, BBC News, 22 July 2010

EXCERPT: "In recent years, with the absence of decisive Pakistani military action in the area, America decided the best way to kill those deemed a risk to US security was by firing missiles at them from unmanned aircraft. The use of these planes in the tribal areas of Pakistan began under the watch of President George W Bush, but has increased markedly since his successor Barack Obama took office. [...] One resident, Sher Ahmad Wazir, from Mir Ali in North Waziristan, said: 'I'm against the drone attacks because a lot of civilians die. What does America want from us? Our government should not side with the Americans.' But Zahid (not his real name), from Wana, in South Waziristan, said: 'I think the drone strikes are good: they target the right people, the terrorists.' Bahar Wazir, from Shawal, North Waziristan, said: 'I prefer the drone attacks to army ground operations, because in the operations we get killed and the [Pakistani] army doesn't respect the honour of our men or women.' [...] The Taliban admit that the drone attacks have disrupted their operations. 'In the short term, yes, you can say it has caused us some difficulties because of the martyrdoms and realignment of our ranks,' says a Taliban spokesman, Muhammed Umer. 'But our command and control system is very strong and well established, so we won't be affected for long,' he adds. 'Instead we get new courage, becoming more powerful with the flow of new blood.'"

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Taliban says US drone attacks "temporarily" hindering insurgency, The Guardian, 23 July 2010
Mapping US drone and Islamic militant attacks in Pakistan [graphs and maps], BBC News, 22 July 2010
Pakistan's drone dilemma, DAWN, 18 July 2010

Related posts:
Al-Qaeda commander killed in S. Waziristan drone strike, 30 June 2010
The AfPak war and drones: Failures of success, 9 April 2010
Drones force militants to adjust tactics, 6 April 2010
Drone attacks justified: US legal adviser, 26 March 2010
Drone attacks: Pakistan’s policy and the tribesmen’s perspective, 12 March 2010

US Drone Activities in Pakistan

US Drone Activities in Pakistan, Council on Foreign Relations, 19 July 2010

EXCERPT: "Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), often referred to as drones, have become increasingly important in U.S. efforts to strike militants in Pakistani regions bordering Afghanistan. In its first eighteen months, the Obama administration authorized more drone attacks in Pakistan than its predecessor did over two terms. UAV strikes in Pakistan have also been effective at eliminating al-Qaeda and Taliban leadership. Since the Obama administration ramped up the covert program in 2009, more than a dozen of top al-Qaeda leaders have been killed (Long War Journal). Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, a founding member of al-Qaeda, was reportedly killed by an American drone strike in May 2010 (CSM). The June 2010 killing of eight militants (NYT) in Pakistan is the most recent reported drone attack. Although targeting terror suspects with UAVs in official combat areas is deemed legal, the use of the technology outside a declared zone of combat—i.e., Iraq and Afghanistan—has brought international criticism. Complicating the picture in Pakistan is that the UAV-targeting program is believed to be operated by the CIA; a number of disclosures by senior U.S. officials have all-but confirmed the operations. The distinction between military applications and covert CIA use of drones has become a point of contention, as are issues pertaining to collateral damage and legal justification."

Read the full backgrounder.

Related articles:
General Atomics gains approval to sell Predator drones to Pakistan, Egypt, Bloomberg, 20 July 2010
Drones make killing cheaper, civilian deaths less personal, RT, 20 July 2010

Related posts:
US drone attack kills 10 in N. Waziristan, 15 July 2010
Al-Qaeda commander killed in S. Waziristan drone strike, 30 June 2010
UN report strongly criticizes US drone attacks, 2 June 2010
The AfPak war and drones: Failures of success, 9 April 2010
Drone attacks justified: US legal adviser, 26 March 2010

US Drone Attack Kills 10 in North Waziristan

US Drone Attack Kills 10 in North Waziristan, DAWN, 15 July 2010

EXCERPT: "US  missiles destroyed a compound used by militants in Pakistan’s tribal belt on Thursday, killing at least 10 militants in the first such attack for two weeks, officials said. A US drone fired at least two missiles into the compound in the village of Sheerani Mada Khel in the district of North Waziristan, a Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked stronghold heavily targeted in a covert US drone war this year. 'At least 10 militants were killed,' a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. 'Most of the dead militants are said to be foreigners,' he added, but said that their nationalities were not yet known. [...] Another security official said up to 14 militants were killed when three missiles slammed into the compound. The area, 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, is a stronghold of Pakistani warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur. He is reputed to control up to 2,000 fighters in the region who stage attacks over the border against foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Times Square bomber vows revenge in Al-Arabiya video, The Washington Post, 15 July 2010
US drone strike kills six militants in Pakistan, AFP, 27 June 2010

Related brief:
The military utility of drones [pdf], Center for Security Studies, ETH Zurich, July 2010

Related posts:
Al-Qaeda commander killed in S. Waziristan drone strike, 30 June 2010
Al-Qaeda at its weakest, Bin Laden in Pakistan, drones legal: CIA Chief, 28 June 2010
Drones kill 14 militants in North Waziristan, 11 June 2010
UN report strongly criticizes US drone attacks, 2 June 2010
Drones strike N. Waziristan, kill at least 24, 11 May 2010

Al-Qaeda Commander Killed in S. Waziristan Drone Strike

Qaeda Figure Is Reported Killed in Pakistan, The New York Times, 29 June 2010

EXCERPT: "Eight militants, including an Egyptian allied with Al Qaeda, were killed Tuesday in what residents and a Pakistani security official said was a United States drone strike in the South Waziristan tribal area near this country’s Afghan border. [...] Tuesday’s attack was the second within a few weeks in South Waziristan after a lull that lasted months. Last October, Pakistan invaded part of South Waziristan to drive out militants; many who fled north are now returning south. The drone was believed to have fired two missiles at a compound in a village near Wana, the regional capital. The Egyptian, Hamza al-Jufi, had lived in Wana for many years, said a fighter in the area who visited the site after the attack and spoke by telephone. Most of the other militants killed in the strike lived nearby, though two came from another province, Punjab, the fighter said. The fighter said that the eight bodies were mutilated beyond recognition but that no one else was wounded in the strike, which leveled the compound in the village, Ghwakhwai. According to some accounts Mr. Jufi was leading a group called Jundullah, or Army of God, which Pakistani security officials said was involved in sectarian violence around the port city of Karachi."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Drone attacks should be stopped if unauthorized: LHC, DAWN, 30 June 2010
Drone strikes violate laws, against Pakistan's sovereignty: Experts, Associated Press of Pakistan, 30 June 2010
Al Qaeda commander killed in US strike on safehouse in South Waziristan [blog], The Long War Journal, 29 June 2010

Related posts:
Al-Qaeda at its weakest, Bin Laden in Pakistan, drones legal: CIA Chief, 28 June 2010
Al-Qaeda's "No. 3" believed killed in drone strike, 1 June 2010
Taliban, Al-Qaeda cooperation "at the highest limits": Siraj Haqqani, 15 April 2010
Al-Qaeda threat assessment, 26 February 2010
CIA deaths prompt surge in drone strikes, 25 January 2010

Drones Kill 14 Militants in North Waziristan

US Drones Kill 14 Militants in Pakistan, AFP, 11 June 2010

EXCERPT: "US drone attacks killed at least 14 militants and destroyed hideouts in Pakistan's North Waziristan, a fortress of Taliban and Al-Qaeda cohorts on the Afghan border, officials said Friday. The twin strikes 12 hours apart struck west and east of Miranshah, the main town in the wild tribal district, where Pakistani commanders feel under increasing US pressure to carry out a military offensive. Both attacks targeted militant hideouts, but the identity of the dead, the networks to which they may have been affiliated and whether there were any high-value targets was not immediately clear. Pakistani officials said 11 militants were killed in the attack in Bahadar Khel village early Friday and three in the village of Khaddi late Thursday. The US military does not, as a rule, confirm drone attacks, but its armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy pilotless drones in the region. 'US drones fired three missiles at a house used by militants around 7.30 am (0230 GMT),' said a senior security official in the northwestern city of Peshawar. 'Eleven militants were killed,' the official told AFP of Friday's strike, revising up an initial toll of three dead."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
US kills 14 in 2 strikes in North Waziristan [blog], The Long War Journal, 11 June 2010
US must clarify rules for using drones: Amnesty, DAWN, 10 June 2010

Related reports:
Attacks from US aerial drones, Amnesty International, 2010

Related posts:
N. Waziristan on the agenda, poses operational challenges: General, 11 May 2010
Drones strike N. Waziristan, kill at least 24, 11 May 2010
Militants strike in North Waziristan and Peshawar, 28 April 2010
In North Waziristan, Taliban roams free, 22 April 2010
Drone attacks justified: US legal adviser, 26 March 2010

US Plans Manned "Drones" to Avoid Legal Ramifications

US Plans Manned "Drones" to Avoid Legal Ramifications, DAWN, 7 June 2010

EXERPT: "The United States is increasingly relying on a new, manned spy plane to deal with possible legal ramifications of the indiscriminate use of unmanned drones in the war against militants, the US media reported on Sunday. The media also claimed that US officials were citing Pakistan’s tacit approval of the drone attacks to justify their decision to continue the air strikes that have killed hundreds of people in the last two years. [...] Diplomatic observers in Washington say that Congress’s involvement can provide a legal cover to the controversial air strikes, at least in US courts. Meanwhile, the Pentagon’s technical response to this legal problem is the introduction of a manned aircraft known as the MC-12 Liberty. It is a four-person, twin-engine propeller plane based on a civilian aircraft used around the world."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
In CIA's drone mission, who will protect the protectors?, The Washington Post, 7 June 2010
US drones: Inside the tools of modern warfare, Channal 4 News, 7 June 2010
Newest manned spy plane scores points in war effort, USA Today, 7 June 2010
CIA drone operators oppose strikes as helping al Qaeda, IPS News, 3 June 2010

Related posts:
Drone attacks get mixed response, 3 May 2010
Drone pilots could be tried for "war crimes": Expert, 29 April 2010
Drone debate continues: The case for drones, 1 April 2010
Drone attacks justified: US legal adviser, 26 March 2010
Drone strikes raise legal questions, 24 March 2010

Time for Transparency on Drone Strikes: Expert

Raising the Curtain on the Drone Strikes [interview], Council on Foreign Relations, 2 June 2010

EXCERPT: "The apparent killing of al-Qaeda's No. 3 in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, underscores the Obama administration's stepped-up use of unmanned drones to target militants in Pakistan's tribal areas. But despite the successes, drones remain a controversial tactic in the view of some experts. Senior UN officials are challenging the use of unmanned drones by U.S. intelligence agencies. CFR's Micah Zenko, who has studied the use of drones in the Afghan-Pakistan region, says while the technology does have its place in war, the Obama administration must shed new details on the tactic to justify their continued use. 'Predator strikes are the worst kept covert secret in the history of U.S. foreign policy,' Zenko says. '[S]ince they are such a significant part of U.S. national security strategy, they should be debated, not simply applauded.'"

Read the full interview.

Related articles:
How drones work, Telegraph, 3 June 2010
How accurate are US drones?, Al Jazeera, 3 June 2010
US officials defend drone attacks against UN criticism, Newsweek, 3 June 2010
Drone wars, Foreign Policy, 28 May 2010

Related posts:
UN report strongly criticizes US drone attacks, 2 June 2010
The AfPak war and drones: Failures of success, 9 April 2010
Drone attacks justified: US legal adviser, 26 March 2010
Unlawful killing with combat drones: A case study of Pakistan, 2004-2009, 18 March 2010
Drone attacks: Pakistan’s policy and the tribesmen’s perspective, 12 March 2010

UN Report Strongly Criticizes US Drone Attacks

U.N. Report Highly Critical of American Drone Attacks, The New York Times, 2 June 2010

EXCERPT: "A senior United Nations official said on Wednesday that the growing use of armed drones by the United States to kill terrorism suspects is undermining global constraints on the use of military force. He warned that the American example will lead to a chaotic world as the new weapons technology inevitably spreads. In a 29-page report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, the official, Philip Alston, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, called on the United States to exercise greater restraint in its use of drones in places like Pakistan and Yemen, outside the war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq. The report - the most extensive effort by the United Nations to grapple with the legal implications of armed drones – also proposed a summit of 'key military powers' to clarify legal limits on targeted killings."

Read the full story.
Read the full Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston [pdf], United Nations Human Rights Council, 28 May 2010

Related articles:
US is world's top user of targeted killings, UN says, CNN, 2 June 2010
Drone strikes the most effective weapon against al-Qaeda - but at what cost?, Times Online, 2 June 2010

Related posts:
UN "to seek" end to CIA drone raid, 28 May 2010
Drones the "preferred option" by the US, 18 May 2010
Drone pilots could be tried for "war crimes": Expert, 29 April 2010
Drone attacks justified: US legal adviser, 26 March 2010
Drone strikes raise legal questions, 24 March 2010

Al-Qaeda's "No. 3" Believed Killed in Drone Strike

Afghanistan Head Of Al-Qaeda "Killed In Pakistan Drone Strike", The Guardian, 1 June 2010

EXCERPT: "Pakistani and US security officials say they believe the head of al-Qaida in Afghanistan has been killed in a drone strike in Pakistan's tribal area. Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, a veteran Egyptian militant close to Osama bin Laden, was hit in a drone strike last month, an official with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) said. 'He was killed on the 21st or 22nd, I believe,' he said. In Washington US security officials told reporters they had 'strong reason' to believe Yazid was dead. 'In terms of counterterrorism, this would be a big victory,' a source told Reuters. A website linked to al-Qaida also acknowledged his death. Yazid, whose nom de guerre was Sheikh Saeed al-Masri, had a hand in al-Qaida training, logistics and finance for the resurgent Taliban insurgency."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Top al-Qaeda leader Mustafa Abu Yazid confirmed killed in airstrike in North Waziristan, The Long War Journal, 31 May 2010
Q&A: Who was al-Qaeda's operations chief Sa'id al Masri?, AlertNet, 1 June 2010
Death of Mustafa Abu al-Yazid "setback" for al-Qaeda, BBC News, 1 June 2010
Al-Qaeda's new leadership: Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, The Washington Post, 2010
Al-Qaeda Afghan head named, Al Jazeera, 24 May 2007

Related media and report:
Al-Qaeda announces death of No. 3 man, intel group says [video], CNN, 1 June 2010
Mustafa Abu al-Yazid interview on al-Jazeera [pdf], The NEFA Foundation, 22 June 2009
Al-Qaeda's new leader in Afghanistan: A profile of Abu al-Yazid, The Jamestown Foundation, 3 July 2007

Related posts:
Key Taliban leaders rumoured killed in drone strikes, 31 May 2010
Al-qaeda, Taliban loosely align in Pakistan to survive, 20 May 2010
Taliban, Al-Qaeda cooperation "at the highest limits": Siraj Haqqani, 15 April 2010
Al-Qaeda threat assessment, 26 February 2010
Al-Qaeda and affiliates, 18 February 2010

Key Taliban Leaders Rumoured Killed in Drone Strikes

Top Link between Al Qaeda and Taliban Thought Killed in US Predator Strike in Khyber, The Long War Journal, 30 May 2010

EXCERPT: "A Taliban commander who serves as a key link to al Qaeda and who carried out the assassination of a former Pakistani prime minister is said to have been killed in a US predator strike in Khyber in mid-May. The commander, Ebad-ul-Rehman, is thought to have been killed in a May 15 airstrike in the Tirah Valley in the Khyber tribal agency along with his brother Yousaf, eight Uzbek fighters, and three Taliban fighters, The News reported. Two civilians, a woman and a child, were also said to have been killed in an attack that targeted a Taliban compound and training camp. The strike was the first by the US in Khyber. Pakistani intelligence officials said they are certain Rehman is dead, but do not have positive confirmation, The News reported. 'The rest 5 per cent confirmation can only be obtained through DNA testing and we do not have access to the body,' an official told the Pakistani news agency. US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not confirm Rehman's death."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
US military: Air strike kills senior Taliban leader, CNN, 31 May 2010
Plotter of Benazir's death dead, amid growing mystery, The News International, 29 May 2010
Operators of drones are faulted in Afghan deaths, The New York Times, 29 May 2010
Suspected drone kills 12 in South Waziristan, CNN, 28 May 2010

Related posts:
CIA drones have a broader list of targets, 6 May 2010
TTP leader alive: ISI, 29 April 2010
Drone strike targets Haqqani network, kills leader's brother, 19 February 2010
Future uncertain following rumours of Taliban leader's death, 5 February 2010