US Drone strikes in Pakistan are illegal under international law.

[A1Kaid]

The drone strikes as mentioned many times before and now recently confirmed by Fmr. Pres. Musharraf were originally authorized by him and today they are authorized by the current Government of Pakistan.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Why they are considered illegal when they are done with pakistan's permission.

They are termed "illegal" here on this forum because the management of the forum, especially
AgnosticMuslim, decided that they were illegal and then changed the thread title by adding "Illegal" to the former title, "US Drone Strikes in Pakistan". Those of us who objected to this change, such as me, were told to pound salt.

 

[fatman17]

UK funds poll in Pakistan on US drone attacks

Foreign Office sponsored surveys investigating impact of CIA drone campaign in Pakistan, minister Alistair Burt tells MPs

Jamie Doward

The Observer, Saturday 18 May 2013.



Britain has been forced to admit that it has been funding surveys in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas that reveal US drone strikes in the region are causing deep resentment among the local population.

In an answer to a parliamentary question, the foreign minister, Alistair Burt, confirmed that the Foreign Office had "supported" surveys which showed the proportion of respondents in the tribal areas who believed drone strikes were "never justified" had risen from 59% in 2010 to 63% in 2011.

It appears to be the first time that the government has revealed it has carried out opinion polls on the CIA drone campaign in Pakistan – a programme on which it has refused to comment publicly. Previously British ministers have said: "Drone strikes are a matter for the United States and Pakistan."

However, there have been claims that the government has been complicit in the programme, sharing locational intelligence with US agencies to help them target the strikes.

"The UK should not need to carry out polling to determine that a campaign of illegal killing is wrong," said Kat Craig, legal director for the charity Reprieve, which campaigns for human rights around the world.

"But what this does show is that even British government surveys find that the drone campaign is increasingly unpopular.

"Ministers must come clean on the role that UK intelligence is playing in supporting drone strikes, put a stop to it, and put pressure on the US to end its campaign."

 

[TruthSeeker]

American killed in US drone strike, US Attorney General says

By BILL ROGGIO, May 22, 2013

US Attorney General Eric Holder said that four Americans, including Jude Mohammed, who was rumored to have been killed in a drone strike two years ago, have died in US "counterterrorism operations" since 2009. Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan for attempting to enter the tribal areas, and evaded a trial after skipping bail.

Holder noted that Anwar al Awlaki, Samir Khan, and Anwar's son, Abdul Rahman, were killed. All three are known to have been killed in US drone strikes in 2010. But Anwar was the only one who was "specifically targeted," according to a letter that was sent to senior Congressmen today and was obtained by ABC News.

"Since 2009, the United States, in the conduct of US counterterrorism operations against al Qaeda and its associated forces outside of areas of active hostilities, has specifically targeted and killed one US citizen, Anwar al Awlaki," Holder said, while not identifying the "associated forces."

"The United States is further aware of three other US citizens who have been killed in such US counterterrorism operations over that same time period: Samir Khan, 'Abd al-Rahman Anwar al Awlaki and Jude Kenan Mohammed. These individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States," Holder continued.

Anwar al Awlaki and Samir Khan were killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in September 2010. Anwar served as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's external operations commander, recruiter, and a senior ideologue. Khan served as the editor of Inspire, AQAP's English-language magazine that incites Western Muslims to wage jihad and carry out operations on their own.

Abdul Rahman al Awlaki, Anwar's son, was killed in a drone strike just weeks after his father was killed. The strike that killed Abdul Rahman had targeted Ibrahim al Bana, AQAP's media emir. According to a Yemeni journalist who has spent time with AQAP, Abdul Rahman said he hoped "to attain martyrdom as my father attained it" just hours before he was killed.

Anwar, Khan, and Abdul Rahman were all operating in areas under direct AQAP control.

Mohammed is suspected of being a member of an eight-man cell of Muslims from North Carolina who conspired to wage jihad overseas. The seven others, who were led by Daniel Boyd, are believed to have taken a half dozen trips in which they intended to engage in violent jihad abroad; each attempt ended in failure.

Mohammed was more successful in traveling overseas and joining other jihadists. He was arrested in 2008 while trying to illegally enter Pakistan's tribal areas. A Pakistani judge granted Mohammed bail, despite the fact that he was on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists; the US Department of Justice said he sought "to engage in violent jihad." He promptly disappeared, never to be tried.

Friends of Mohammed said that he was last heard from in the fall of 2011. One friend told WRAL that Mohammed was killed in a drone strike in November 2011. He death was never confirmed, however he was never heard from again.

The date and location of the strike was not given. The US conducted two strikes in November 2011, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. Both strikes took place in Miramshah, the main town in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan [see LWJ reports, US Predator strike kills 3 Haqqani Network fighters in North Waziristan and US Predators strike in Miramshah].

Read more: American killed in US drone strike, US Attorney General says - The Long War Journal

 

[Solomon2]

Kerry defends US drone programme as ‘strict, accountable’

ADDIS ABABA: US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday defended America’s use of drones to hunt down wanted terror leaders, saying the pilotless planes are only used against confirmed targets and after much vetting.

“Let me very clear… first of all there have been very few drone strikes in this last year. Why? Because we have been so successful in rooting out al Qaeda in Pakistan,” he told young Ethiopian students.

“Secondly the only people that we fire on are confirmed terrorist targets at the highest levels after a great deal of vetting.” The drone programme has been one of the most controversial aspects of the US fight against al Qaeda and Taliban militants in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Top leaders from both networks have been killed as a result of drone fire.

Yet the use of drones, mostly sent in covertly without the prior knowledge of other governments, has been sharply criticised particularly in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the deaths of civilians caught in the crossfire has sparked a groundswell of anger.

But Kerry insisted at an event hosted at the University of Addis Ababa: “I am convinced that we have one of the strictest, most accountable and fairest programmes.” Each target was carefully monitored and “sometimes it takes a year to build the authority to know that you’re correct,” Kerry said.

“We do not fire when we know there are children or collateral, we just don’t. We have absolutely not shot at high-level targets when we have seen that there are people there,” Kerry said.

The US “preference” was to capture suspects wanted by US agencies, Kerry said, maintaining that Islamic militants did not use the same caution when they attacked American or Western targets.

“I will tell you that the extremists who put bombs in those mosques never engage in the kind of clear discretion we have used in this programme,” he said.

But he also maintained that America was not engaged in a war against Islam, and acknowledged that there had been mistakes by the United States.

President Barack Obama said Thursday he had approved strict rules for when the United States can carry out drone strikes against terror suspects abroad, saying lethal force could be used when no other alternatives exist.

Kerry also defended the US move to try open talks with the Taliban leadership, saying it was better to try to bring people to the table to resolve issues rather than try to fight it out.

“Years ago people thought the United States should not talk to China because of Mao Zedong,” he told the event, hosted by the BBC, just hours before leaving for Amman.

“People thought we shouldn’t talk to the Vietnamese during that war… but even as we fought them we had discussions in Paris about peace.”

 

[TruthSeeker]

US launches first drone strike in Pakistan in 6 weeks

By BILL ROGGIO, May 29, 2013

The US killed seven people in the first drone strike in Pakistan in six weeks. The attack took place in an area of Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, and is rumored to have killed the deputy emir for the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.

The CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a compound in the village of Chashma, which is just outside of Miramshah, the main town in the tribal agency, according to Reuters.

Seven people were killed in the strike and several more were wounded. It is unclear, however, if those killed were civilians or jihadists allied with the Taliban, al Qaeda, or other terrorist groups known to shelter in the area.

Unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials claimed that Waliur Rehman, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in South Waziristan and deputy to emir Hakeemullah Mehsud, was killed in the strike. Additionally, an aide known as Fakhar-ul-Islam is said to have been killed in the strike along with "two unknown Uzbek nationals," according to CNN.

The Pakistani government has not officially stated that Rehman was killed. The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has neither confirmed nor denied reports of his death.

The strike took place in an area of North Waziristan that is administered by the Haqqani Network, the al Qaeda-linked Taliban subgroup that operates in eastern Afghanistan and is based in North Waziristan.

The strike is the first in Pakistan since April 17, when US drones targeted a compound in the neighboring tribal agency of South Waziristan.

The program was put on hold for "political considerations," a US intelligence official involved in the strikes in Pakistan told The Long War Journal several weeks ago. Pakistan held parliamentary elections on May 11, and the chiefs of the two leading parties in the polls, Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan, have been vocal opponents of the US program. Both candidates have also favored negotiations with the al Qaeda-affiliated Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, one of several Taliban factions operating in Pakistan.

Today's strike is the first since President Barack Obama's speech last week that outlined a reduced US counterterrorism role in the world. Obama said that the drones, which are currently operated by the CIA, will eventually be turned over to the military, and that the pace of the strikes will be reduced. Obama claimed that al Qaeda has been sufficiently attritted, despite the fact that the terrorist organization has expanded its operations in Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Egypt, and in North and West Africa.

The US has launched 14 drone strikes in Pakistan so far this year, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. The number of strikes in Pakistan has decreased since a peak in 2010, when 117 such attacks were recorded. In 2011, 64 strikes were launched in Pakistan, and in 2012 there were 46 strikes.

Read more: US launches first drone strike in Pakistan in 6 weeks - The Long War Journal

 

[TruthSeeker]

Pakistani Taliban confirm death of deputy emir in drone strike

By BILL ROGGIO, May 30, 2013

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan's top spokesman, Ihsanullah Ihsan, confirmed today that Waliur Rehman, the group's deputy leader and emir in South Waziristan, was killed in a US drone strike yesterday. The Taliban vowed to avenge his death and also withdrew the prospects of peace talks with the newly elected Pakistani government.

Rehman, his deputy Fakhar-ul-Islam, and two Uzbeks were among seven people killed in yesterday's strike at a compound in the village of Chashma just outside Miramshah in North Waziristan. The attack took place in an area administered by the Haqqani Network, the Pakistani Taliban subgroup that is backed by Pakistan's military and Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate and is closely allied with al Qaeda and other terror groups in the region. While the Haqqani Network is not officially part of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, it closely works with the group and shelters its leaders and fighters in North Waziristan.

Ihsan confirmed Rehman's death during an interview with Dawn, and noted that any chance of talks with the government have died along with Rehman.

"We are suspending all kinds of contacts and revoke the peace talks offer with the government, soon we shall be responding with full force," Ihsan said.

"On one hand the Pakistani government is advocating the mantra of peace talks, and on the other it is colluding with the United States and killing the Taliban leadership," he continued.

While Pakistani news outlets have reported that a commander known as Khan Said and Sajana Mehsud succeeded Rehman, Ihsan told Dawn that a replacement has not yet been named as the group's shura, or executive council, must meet before a decision is made.

"No I can not confirm yet, who will be taking over, the Taliban shura has not decided about it yet," Ihsan told Dawn.

For years, Rehman, an influential and respected leader in the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan, served as both the deputy to Hakeemullah Mehsud and the group's emir in the tribal agency. He has been involved in multiple terror attacks inside Pakistan and in neighboring Afghanistan, including the suicide attack at Combat Outpost Chapman at the end of December 2009 that killed seven CIA personnel, as well as in the failed Times Square car bombing in New York City on May 1, 2010.

The US Treasury Department added Rehman and Hakeemullah to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists in September 2010, the same time that the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan was named as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The US also put out a $5 million reward for information leading to their capture and prosecution.

The Pakistani government placed an estimated $600,000 bounty out for Hakeemullah and Waliur in the fall of 2009. Both men are wanted for terrorist attacks against the military, police, the government, and civilians inside Pakistan. Despite the bounties for Hakeemullah and Waliur, and 18 other Taliban leaders, only one has been killed and another has been captured.

In recent years, the Pakistani government routinely claimed that Rehman and Hakeemullah were at odds, and sometimes violently so. For instance, government officials alleged that the two Taliban emirs tried to kill each other during a meeting to name the successor to Baitullah Mehsud, the emir who was killed in a US drone strike in August 2009. The two Taliban leaders denied the clash ever took place, and have appeared in Taliban propaganda seated side-by-side in an effort to dispel the government claims.

The US has killed two senior Taliban leaders in Pakistan's tribal areas this year. In January, the drones killed Mullah Nazir, who led the Taliban faction in the Wazir areas of South Waziristan. He identified himself as an al Qaeda leader and waged jihad in Afghanistan. Although he was not a member of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, Nazir, like the Haqqanis, has provided shelter and support for the group

Read more: Pakistani Taliban confirm death of deputy emir in drone strike - The Long War Journal

 

[TruthSeeker]

US drones kill 6 in North Waziristan

By BILL ROGGIO, June 7, 2013

The US launched a drone strike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan today. Six "militants," including an unnamed "high value target," are said to have been killed in the latest attack in an area known to serve as a launchpad for operations against US forces in Afghanistan.

The remotely piloted Predators or the more advanced Reapers fired two missiles at a compound in the village of Mangroati in the Shawal area of the North Waziristan, according to Dawn. Six militants, including a "high value target," are reported to have been killed. The name of the senior operative thought to have been killed was not disclosed.

Today's strike is the first in Pakistan since the US killed Waliur Rehman, the deputy emir of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan and the group's leader in South Waziristan. It is also the first strike in Pakistan since Nawaz Sharif was sworn in as the country's prime minister. Sharif has repeatedly called for an end to drone strikes and is seeking to negotiate with the Taliban.

The last strike in the Shawal Valley took place on Dec. 28, 2012; five "militants" are reported to have died in the attack.

The Shawal Valley is a known haven for al Qaeda and other terror groups operating in the region. Last year, 10 of the 46 drone strikes in Pakistan, or 22%, hit targets in the Shawal Valley. Targeting in the area was heavy during the summer of 2012; at one point in time, seven of 10 strikes took place there.

Al Qaeda, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and Taliban fighters under the command of Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the leader of the Taliban in North Waziristan, are all known to operate in the Shawal Valley, which is near the Afghan border. The area is used to launch attacks across the border in Afghanistan. Additionally, Central Asia terror groups are known to operate in the area. On July 1, 2012, a US drone strike killed several members of the Turkistan Islamic Party, an al Qaeda-affiliated group that operates in Pakistan, China, and Central Asia.

Bahadar administers the Shawal Valley. In 2009, after the Pakistani military launched an offensive in the Mehsud areas of South Waziristan, Bahadar sheltered the families of Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and Waliur Rehman [see LWJ report, Taliban escape South Waziristan operation].

Despite the known presence of al Qaeda and other foreign groups in North Waziristan, and requests by the US that action be taken against these groups, the Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on Hafiz Gul Bahadar or the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network. Bahadar and the Haqqanis are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan. In June 2012, Bahadar banned polio vaccinations in North Waziristan, in protest against US drone strikes.

Read more: US drones kill 6 in North Waziristan - The Long War Journal

Local Taliban commander killed in latest drone strike in Pakistan

By BILL ROGGIO, June 9, 2013

A US drone strike two days ago killed a "key" local Taliban commander who was preparing to lead a group of fighters into Afghanistan, according to the Pakistani press. The drone strike has drawn the ire of newly elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been sympathetic to the Taliban in the past and seeks to negotiate with the terror group.

The June 7 drone strike in the Shawal area of North Waziristan killed a "key Pakistani Taliban commander" who was known as Mutaqi and Bahadar Khan, according to Dawn. The compound where Muqati and his followers were staying was struck "when a pick-up truck arrived from the bordering area of Afghanistan." Six fighters are thought to have been killed in the strike.

Mutaqi and his fighters "were planning to cross over into Afghanistan via Pash Ziarat valley, a strategic corridor linking the South and North Waziristan Agency and considered a gateway to Afghanistan," Pakistani intelligence officials told the news agency.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/06/local_taliban_comman.php#ixzz2Vm4HoyeI

 

[batmannow]

US drones kill 6 in North Waziristan

By BILL ROGGIO, June 7, 2013

The US launched a drone strike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan today. Six "militants," including an unnamed "high value target," are said to have been killed in the latest attack in an area known to serve as a launchpad for operations against US forces in Afghanistan.

The remotely piloted Predators or the more advanced Reapers fired two missiles at a compound in the village of Mangroati in the Shawal area of the North Waziristan, according to Dawn. Six militants, including a "high value target," are reported to have been killed. The name of the senior operative thought to have been killed was not disclosed.

Today's strike is the first in Pakistan since the US killed Waliur Rehman, the deputy emir of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan and the group's leader in South Waziristan. It is also the first strike in Pakistan since Nawaz Sharif was sworn in as the country's prime minister. Sharif has repeatedly called for an end to drone strikes and is seeking to negotiate with the Taliban.

The last strike in the Shawal Valley took place on Dec. 28, 2012; five "militants" are reported to have died in the attack.

The Shawal Valley is a known haven for al Qaeda and other terror groups operating in the region. Last year, 10 of the 46 drone strikes in Pakistan, or 22%, hit targets in the Shawal Valley. Targeting in the area was heavy during the summer of 2012; at one point in time, seven of 10 strikes took place there.

Al Qaeda, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and Taliban fighters under the command of Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the leader of the Taliban in North Waziristan, are all known to operate in the Shawal Valley, which is near the Afghan border. The area is used to launch attacks across the border in Afghanistan. Additionally, Central Asia terror groups are known to operate in the area. On July 1, 2012, a US drone strike killed several members of the Turkistan Islamic Party, an al Qaeda-affiliated group that operates in Pakistan, China, and Central Asia.

Bahadar administers the Shawal Valley. In 2009, after the Pakistani military launched an offensive in the Mehsud areas of South Waziristan, Bahadar sheltered the families of Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and Waliur Rehman [see LWJ report, Taliban escape South Waziristan operation].

Despite the known presence of al Qaeda and other foreign groups in North Waziristan, and requests by the US that action be taken against these groups, the Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on Hafiz Gul Bahadar or the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network. Bahadar and the Haqqanis are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan. In June 2012, Bahadar banned polio vaccinations in North Waziristan, in protest against US drone strikes.

Read more: US drones kill 6 in North Waziristan - The Long War Journal

Local Taliban commander killed in latest drone strike in Pakistan

By BILL ROGGIO, June 9, 2013

A US drone strike two days ago killed a "key" local Taliban commander who was preparing to lead a group of fighters into Afghanistan, according to the Pakistani press. The drone strike has drawn the ire of newly elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been sympathetic to the Taliban in the past and seeks to negotiate with the terror group.

The June 7 drone strike in the Shawal area of North Waziristan killed a "key Pakistani Taliban commander" who was known as Mutaqi and Bahadar Khan, according to Dawn. The compound where Muqati and his followers were staying was struck "when a pick-up truck arrived from the bordering area of Afghanistan." Six fighters are thought to have been killed in the strike.

Mutaqi and his fighters "were planning to cross over into Afghanistan via Pash Ziarat valley, a strategic corridor linking the South and North Waziristan Agency and considered a gateway to Afghanistan," Pakistani intelligence officials told the news agency.

Read more: Local Taliban commander killed in latest drone strike in Pakistan - The Long War Journal

welldone drone uncle, thankyou!
kill these killers plz!
cause they are killing pakistanis?
Three security forces killed in separate militant attacks in North Waziristan - DAWN.COM

 

[batmannow]

The drone strikes as mentioned many times before and now recently confirmed by Fmr. Pres. Musharraf were originally authorized by him and today they are authorized by the current Government of Pakistan.

ohh come on, CIA doesnt need musharaf,s permissions they can do it without anyones permission?
who given them the permission to takeout OBL? mushrarf, kiyani, or zardari ?
none of them, they only let obama knew few hours before?

 

[FaujHistorian]

ohh come on, CIA doesnt need musharaf,s permissions they can do it without anyones permission?
who given them the permission to takeout OBL? mushrarf, kiyani, or zardari ?
none of them, they only let obama knew few hours before?

it is not "permission" per se.

Rather "consultation".

Americans and Pakistanis at higher level cooperate and use superior American resources to take out international level criminal thugs.

American army in fact is doing the dirty work for Pak army.

Not that we cannot do it ourselves.

But our nation and specially the Islamist thugs have enough street power to scare most of our generals who have their families and mothers and old fathers living mostly around Islu.

These Talib@stards have enough Islamist support to come in Islu and murder our generals and attack sensitive basis and even the fing GHQ.

Now how bad could it be.

And Pak army is really really worried about civil war, when two of the largest elected party leaders Taliban Khan Imran Khan and Mian Nawaz Shrif Jhangvi so openly support the Talib@stards.


Thanks to the heroic sacrifices of both American and Pakistani soldiers, many of the Talib@stard leaders are now being BBQd in hell.


peace

 

[batmannow]

my dear drone uncle,
plz do everything you could to kill terrorist on the both sides of the pakafghan boder, but plz never ever support democracy in my country any more?
its the basic fault or mistake you hve done, for which we became more unsecure? our vast poulation is ignorat uneducated , they give thier votes for small ammount of money?
so democracy is just a larger oppresive system thn dictatorship to us?
& plz banned those of our politicians going to collect, the donations or uying private properties in your lands going to your beautyfull countries?
also i must ask you to plz give us a very limitec capablity of drones, so we can strike the terrorits heart out of our lands, hope fully you knew well we can do that ery well!
my country, my army will never surrender my nation to the terrorists! & to keep our malala s safer!
hope you wont mind whatever may, i requested
thanks

 

[TruthSeeker]

... i must ask you to plz give us a very limitec capablity of drones, so we can strike the terrorits heart out of our lands, hope fully you knew well we can do that ery well!
my country, my army will never surrender my nation to the terrorists! & to keep our malala s safer!
hope you wont mind whatever may, i requested
thanks

the drone uncle has already "sold" you F-16 drones. Just imagine that the controllers of these drones are PAF robot/warriors. Tell the robot/warriors to strike by Urdu commands, and they will! So, you already have what you need to strike the terrorists heart. What you need is your own "heart" to do it. Unfortunately, uncle drone, who has, himself, the heart to strike these terrorists, cannot give you his heart as a transplant .....

 

[Yzd Khalifa]

the drone uncle has already "sold" you F-16 drones. Just imagine that the controllers of these drones are PAF robot/warriors. Tell the robot/warriors to strike by Urdu commands, and they will! So, you already have what you need to strike the terrorists heart. What you need is your own "heart" to do it. Unfortunately, uncle drone, who has, himself, the heart to strike these terrorists, cannot give you his heart as a transplant .....

Awesome

Al-Qeada in Yemen you're nexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxt!!!

 

[Hawaii's Finest]

So why doesn't Pakistan military take care of the terrorists then?