Q+A-What is behind U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan?

20 Nov 2009 10:48:56 GMT
Source: Reuters
Nov 20 (Reuters) - A missile-firing U.S. drone aircraft killed eight Islamist militants in northwest Pakistan on Friday, Pakistani officials said.

It was the second U.S. drone strike in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border since late on Wednesday and comes as the United States weighs options for how to deal with an intensifying Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency operates the missile-firing Predator and Reaper drones. Here are some questions and answers about the strikes:

WHY DOES THE UNITED STATES ATTACK?

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 their sanctuaries there, the militants have orchestrated insurgencies in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The United States and Afghanistan have pressed Pakistan to eliminate the sanctuaries. Apparently frustrated by Pakistan's inability to do so, the United States itself is hitting the militants. One option being considered as the United States reviews its Afghan strategy is for more missile attacks in Pakistan.

HOW MANY ATTACKS?

The United States has carried out 46 drone air strikes in northwestern border regions this year, killing about 415 people, including many foreign militants, according to a tally reports from Pakistani officials and residents. In 2008, there were 32 strikes, 24 of them in the last four months of the year, that killed about 240 people. U.S. attacks on the Pakistani Taliban in their South Waziristan stronghold picked up after the Pakistani government ordered a military offensive against them in June. But there have been no missile strikes in South Waziristan since the Pakistani army launched the offensive on Oct. 17.

WHERE ARE THE DRONES LAUNCHED FROM?

A senior U.S. lawmaker, Senator Dianne Feinstein, told a U.S. Senate hearing in February that the drones were being flown from an air base inside Pakistan. Pakistan denied that, saying it had never granted permission for the strikes.

WHAT IS PAKISTAN'S POSITION?

Pakistan officially objects to the U.S. drone strikes, saying they violate its sovereignty. It also worries the strikes could undermine efforts to deal with militancy because the civilian casualties inflame public anger and bolster support for the fighters. Pakistan has pressed the United States to provide it with drones to allow it to conduct its own attacks.

WHAT IS THE U.S. POSITION?

U.S. officials say the missile strikes are carried out under an agreement with Islamabad that allows Pakistani leaders to decry the attacks in public. U.S. sources said in May that Washington had given Pakistan data on militants from surveillance drones in Pakistani airspace under an agreement with Islamabad.

WHO WERE THE MOST PROMINENT MILITANTS PEOPLE REPORTED KILLED? Jan. 28, 2008 - A senior al Qaeda member, Abu Laith al-Libi.

July 28 - An al Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert, Abu Khabab al-Masri.

Nov. 22 - Rashid Rauf, a Briton with al Qaeda links and the suspected ringleader of a 2006 plot to blow up airliners over the Atlantic, was reported killed though doubts have since arisen. An Egyptian named as Abu Zubair al-Masri was also reported killed.

Jan. 1, 2009 - Pakistani agents said a drone killed three foreign fighters. A week later, a U.S. counter-terrorism official said al Qaeda's operational chief, Usama al-Kini, and an aide had been killed.

Aug. 5 - Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a South Waziristan stronghold.

Sept 14 - Senior Uzbek militant Najmiddin Kamolitdinovic Jalolov was killed in North Waziristan. (For main story, click on [ID:nSP494046]; for more on Pakistan, click on [ID:nAFPAK]) (Compiled by Islamabad Newsroom; Editing by Robert Birsel and Alex Richardson)