I have to disagree here. Granted the American drone strikes have caused the kind of collateral damage that can only result from a nation with no emotional investment in the area, but it is no more damaging than Pakistan's effort. For the misguided and easily swayed, any and every death is turned into a martyr-hood of some sort. Ironically, in their attempts to play the middle ground and appease the extremist along with the Americans, Pakistan finds itself just as much in the crosshairs of extremism as the US. And unlike the Americans, who exalted a heavy toll on the extremists, Pakistan made enemies without systematically destroying those already present.
The inability of the Pakistani establishment in making a decision one way or the other necessitated a more involved America. It was the inability of the Pakistan's half baked offensives that cost the lives of brave soldiers; all the while creating martyrs for the cause of extremism without making a real dent in their operational ability. More than 10 years later, we have lost so many lives and find ourselves stuck in a vicious circle of death and destruction. In a parallel storyline, we have alienated the Americans, who subsidized what should have been a very personal war led by Pakistan. We have more to lose than any other nation in the war on terror. It then follows that this is a deeply important and distinctly Pakistani cause.
Drones strikes aren't ideal and they are taking a heavy toll on the local population. But so are the extremists, all over the country. Someone had to make the hard decision and it was the Americans. Even now, while the majority of one of the worlds most formidable militaries sits at the eastern border, in a perpetual staring contest with India, our forces on the west are repeatedly caught in disadvantaged situations. The drones are only necessary because Pakistan refuses to eliminate the problem. Once the Americans become involved, they do not hold back and Pakistan knew that from the beginning. The onus was on us to make sure the Americans didn't feel the need to get involved within Pakistani territory. Unfortunately, we spent the entire time twiddling our thumbs, terrified of making an enemy out of extremists...who are now the single greatest threat the nation faces a mere half decade later.
