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US resumes Predator strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas
Trefor Moss JDW Asia-Pacific Editor-London
Farhan Bokhari JDW Correspondent-Islamabad
Key Points
The United States has allegedly used a Predator UAV to destroy a target in Pakistan's tribal areas
The strike marked a resumption of UAV strikes on Pakistani soil just as the government of Pakistan furthers peace talks with the Taliban
Senior Western military officials and Pakistani government officials have confirmed to Jane's that the United States was responsible for destroying a house in the Bajaur district of Pakistan's Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) on 14 May.
The attack, in which at least 18 people died, was carried out by a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and marked a resumption of the US practice of conducting missile strikes from unmanned drones inside Pakistan after a three-month hiatus.
A senior Western military official based in Islamabad said that those killed in the strike in Bajaur - which is situated at the northernmost end of the FATA along the border with Afghanistan - included at least five Arab members of Al-Qaeda, with the remainder all Pakistanis. Seven of those killed were women and children.
Owais Ahmed Ghani, the governor of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, condemned the strike as "an attack on Pakistan's sovereignty", appearing to confirm that he held the US responsible. Pakistan's Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gillani, also condemned the attack during a television interview on 15 May, calling it "wrong and unfair".
Meanwhile, the Pakistani government continued to pursue its policy of negotiating with militant groups, with controversial prisoner exchanges going ahead on 14 May. A military spokesman confirmed that the authorities in Waziristan had handed over 35 militants connected with Baitullah Mehsud's Tehrik-e-Taliban in return for 12 security personnel and said that further prisoner swaps were planned.
In Brussels, NATO spokesman James Appathurai expressed concern that negotiations in Pakistan were resulting in an increase in violence across the border in Afghanistan. "The concern is that deals being struck between the Pakistani government and extremist groups in the tribal areas may be allowing the extremists to have safe havens, rest, reconstitute and then move across the border," he said on 15 May.
He added that eastern Afghanistan had witnessed a 50 per cent increase in violence in April compared with the same period in 2007.
However, a senior Pakistani official told Jane's that "there is already a very deep divide between the government's support for the US and the popular mood" and that it would therefore be difficult for the government to backtrack on its policy of negotiating with the Taliban at the behest of the US. "We expect the public reaction to grow in the coming months because we expect more [UAV] attacks," he said.
The resumption of UAV strikes by the US reflected fears that there would soon be a further increase in Taliban attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan, the Western defence official added.
David Livingstone, associate fellow of the international security programme at think-tank Chatham House, told Jane's that "the Pakistani government could well have signed up to a set of preset circumstances [enabling] the US to carry out this style of interdiction". If there was no tacit permission, however, the strike would have been the US's way of "sabre-rattling to say 'Don't forget we're here'" to a Pakistani administration increasingly reluctant to combat insurgents, he said.
US resumes Predator strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas
Trefor Moss JDW Asia-Pacific Editor-London
Farhan Bokhari JDW Correspondent-Islamabad
Key Points
The United States has allegedly used a Predator UAV to destroy a target in Pakistan's tribal areas
The strike marked a resumption of UAV strikes on Pakistani soil just as the government of Pakistan furthers peace talks with the Taliban
Senior Western military officials and Pakistani government officials have confirmed to Jane's that the United States was responsible for destroying a house in the Bajaur district of Pakistan's Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) on 14 May.
The attack, in which at least 18 people died, was carried out by a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and marked a resumption of the US practice of conducting missile strikes from unmanned drones inside Pakistan after a three-month hiatus.
A senior Western military official based in Islamabad said that those killed in the strike in Bajaur - which is situated at the northernmost end of the FATA along the border with Afghanistan - included at least five Arab members of Al-Qaeda, with the remainder all Pakistanis. Seven of those killed were women and children.
Owais Ahmed Ghani, the governor of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, condemned the strike as "an attack on Pakistan's sovereignty", appearing to confirm that he held the US responsible. Pakistan's Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gillani, also condemned the attack during a television interview on 15 May, calling it "wrong and unfair".
Meanwhile, the Pakistani government continued to pursue its policy of negotiating with militant groups, with controversial prisoner exchanges going ahead on 14 May. A military spokesman confirmed that the authorities in Waziristan had handed over 35 militants connected with Baitullah Mehsud's Tehrik-e-Taliban in return for 12 security personnel and said that further prisoner swaps were planned.
In Brussels, NATO spokesman James Appathurai expressed concern that negotiations in Pakistan were resulting in an increase in violence across the border in Afghanistan. "The concern is that deals being struck between the Pakistani government and extremist groups in the tribal areas may be allowing the extremists to have safe havens, rest, reconstitute and then move across the border," he said on 15 May.
He added that eastern Afghanistan had witnessed a 50 per cent increase in violence in April compared with the same period in 2007.
However, a senior Pakistani official told Jane's that "there is already a very deep divide between the government's support for the US and the popular mood" and that it would therefore be difficult for the government to backtrack on its policy of negotiating with the Taliban at the behest of the US. "We expect the public reaction to grow in the coming months because we expect more [UAV] attacks," he said.
The resumption of UAV strikes by the US reflected fears that there would soon be a further increase in Taliban attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan, the Western defence official added.
David Livingstone, associate fellow of the international security programme at think-tank Chatham House, told Jane's that "the Pakistani government could well have signed up to a set of preset circumstances [enabling] the US to carry out this style of interdiction". If there was no tacit permission, however, the strike would have been the US's way of "sabre-rattling to say 'Don't forget we're here'" to a Pakistani administration increasingly reluctant to combat insurgents, he said.
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