http://english.aljazeera.net/news/as...411386630.html
Drone Strikes continue. Measures of performance are clearly high; measures of effectiveness are another matter entirely. Depends on our ends; and if the ends are what the President has told us, then drone strikes in Pakistan should be limited to AQ proper and foreign fighters. Perhaps it is just sloppy reporting that labels these targets as simply "Taliban." My fear is that it is sloppy intel, analysis and targeting.
As the article points out, the official position of Pakistan is to protest these strikes. That is fair, sure they occur with their knowledge and consent, but they have their own audience to play to, and the mis-match between US interests and Pakistani interests regarding the Taliban will always generate such a mixed position for Pakistan.
It did raise a red flag in my mind though as they added that the Pak Intel is assisting with some of the targeting. The question we should ask is, who is it that the Pak intel wants the US to kill for them?? Remembering that sometimes the intel guys don't necessarily take all their commands from the President, and that even the civilian government's position on the Taliban is probably about 180 out from our own.
This is one more reason to limit the targets of these strikes to AQ proper (Arab members of bin Laden's core group) and foreign fighters who come to fight with AQ. I suspect that there is a closer alignment of interests in regards to those targets. Better effects toward the ends the US President gave us, and better intel and support with less conflict of interest for Pakistan.
Far better if we only kill 5-6 guys a year if they are the right guys toward the right effects; than putting up big numbers of kills that may well be taking us in the opposite direction of where we need to be.
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