US Drone strikes in Pakistan are illegal under international law.
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Shardul.....the lion
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PESHAWAR: Pakistani intelligence officials say a US missile strike in northwest Pakistan has killed two militants.
The officials say two missiles hit an abandoned girls schools in the town of Miramshah in the North Waziristan tribal region, killing two unidentified militants.
Sundays strike comes as the US is trying to rebuild its relationship with Pakistan, which opposes the missile attacks.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
US drone strike kills two in Miramshah | DAWN.COM
The officials say two missiles hit an abandoned girls schools in the town of Miramshah in the North Waziristan tribal region, killing two unidentified militants.
Sundays strike comes as the US is trying to rebuild its relationship with Pakistan, which opposes the missile attacks.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
US drone strike kills two in Miramshah | DAWN.COM
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Drone strike kills four suspected militants in North Waziristan
By Reuters / Web Desk
Published: April 29, 2012
The missiles reportedly struck a school building in the area. Casualties are feared.
PESHAWAR: A US drone strike killed four suspected militants in North Waziristan tribal on Sunday, intelligence officials and witnesses said, the first strike in almost a month.
The remotely piloted aircraft targeted an abandoned girls high school building used by militants in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, the officials and witnesses said. Three militants were wounded.
We intercepted internal conversation of the militants asking for arranging four coffins for the slain men in the drone attack. We dont know about their identity and nationality but those living in the girls school were mostly Arabs, a security official said.
A local resident, Haji Niamat Khan, said more than two dozen militants were living in the school when it was attacked.
The last drone strike, on March 30, killed four suspected militants and wounded three in the same town of Miranshah, a known hotbed for Pakistan Taliban and foreign militants.
The strikes are a major stumbling block in restoring ties with Washington, badly frayed after an inadvertent cross-border attack by Nato aircraft on November 26 last year killed 24 Pakistani troops.
The United States says the strikes in Pakistans unruly northwestern tribal regions are very accurate and there is minimal collateral damage.
In a recent interview, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said that although Pakistan had demanded an immediate cessation of drone attacks, the US has not complied.
By Reuters / Web Desk
Published: April 29, 2012
The missiles reportedly struck a school building in the area. Casualties are feared.
PESHAWAR: A US drone strike killed four suspected militants in North Waziristan tribal on Sunday, intelligence officials and witnesses said, the first strike in almost a month.
The remotely piloted aircraft targeted an abandoned girls high school building used by militants in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, the officials and witnesses said. Three militants were wounded.
We intercepted internal conversation of the militants asking for arranging four coffins for the slain men in the drone attack. We dont know about their identity and nationality but those living in the girls school were mostly Arabs, a security official said.
A local resident, Haji Niamat Khan, said more than two dozen militants were living in the school when it was attacked.
The last drone strike, on March 30, killed four suspected militants and wounded three in the same town of Miranshah, a known hotbed for Pakistan Taliban and foreign militants.
The strikes are a major stumbling block in restoring ties with Washington, badly frayed after an inadvertent cross-border attack by Nato aircraft on November 26 last year killed 24 Pakistani troops.
The United States says the strikes in Pakistans unruly northwestern tribal regions are very accurate and there is minimal collateral damage.
In a recent interview, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said that although Pakistan had demanded an immediate cessation of drone attacks, the US has not complied.
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U.S. drone strikes resume in Pakistan; action may complicate vital negotiations
By Richard Leiby and Karen DeYoung, Published: April 29
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan— CIA drone missiles hit militant targets in Pakistan on Sunday for the first time in a month, as the United States ignored the Pakistani government’s insistence that such attacks end as a condition for normalized relations between the two perpetually uneasy allies.
The drone strikes, which have long infuriated the Pakistani public, killed four al-Qaeda-linked fighters in a girls’ school they had taken over in the North Waziristan tribal area, security officials there said.
Warning of diplomatic consequences, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the attacks, the first since Parliament’s unanimous vote this month approving new guidelines for the country’s relationship with the United States. Some politicians said the drone strikes might set back already difficult negotiations over the reopening of vital NATO supply routes to Afghanistan that Pakistan blocked five months ago.
Last week, after two days of high-level talks in Islamabad, Pakistan told U.S. negotiators that it would not allow NATO convoys to cross its territory unless the United States unconditionally apologized for November airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near the Afghan border. Although the Obama administration has expressed regret for the killings, which it said were accidental, the Pentagon says both sides share blame.
Washington has made it clear that an apology will not be forthcoming, but officials from both governments say they are committed to ongoing talks. A Pentagon-led team of 10 negotiators, including State Department and White House officials, remains in Islamabad to focus on getting the NATO supply lines open.
In a process triggered by the November U.S. airstrikes on the Pakistani border posts, Pakistan’s Parliament on April 12 unanimously laid down foreign policy guidelines for future dealings with the United States, then passed them to the government of President Asif Ali Zardari for enforcement. The “terms of engagement” called for an immediate end to the CIA drone strikes, which Parliament had twice demanded in recent years, to no effect.
But this time, the civilian leaders acted with more authority than ever before in the nation’s 64-year history. The military, which conducted all previous Pakistani foreign relations, stood back to give the lawmakers and the government room to formulate key policies and negotiate with the United States.
The guidelines also said the government should seek an apology for “the condemnable and unprovoked” border attack by U.S. helicopters and fighter jets in November. At various times since November, the White House had considered making such an apology, but after militant attacks in Kabul on April 15 — blamed on the Pakistan-based Haqqani insurgent network — the United States ruled that out.
The resumption of the drone strikes — while not unexpected, given their efficiency and effectiveness — highlights a schism in the U.S. approach to Pakistan.
“When a duly elected democratic Parliament says three times not to do this, and the U.S. keeps doing it, it undermines democracy,” said a Pakistani government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to preserve diplomatic relationships. “These drone strikes may kill terrorists, but the net loser is freedom and democracy.”
Prominent politicians predicted that the new drone strikes, the first inside Pakistan since March 30, would provoke a backlash against further negotiations on the supply lines and stir outcries that the United States has no regard for Pakistan’s sovereignty.
“There will be repercussions whether in the government or in the public or in the Parliament,” said Aftab Khan Sherpao, a National Assembly member who sat on the committee that drafted the guidelines. “In no case would we allow the NATO supplies now.”
Others saw the drone attacks as a provocation that undermined any notion that the United States had engaged in sincere, meaningful talks last week.
“The CIA could have opted not to go for a drone strike at such a crucial time, when senior U.S. officials are trying hard to iron out differences with Pakistan,” said Sheik Waqas Akram, a member of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s cabinet. “It shows that it has no regard for the Pakistani Parliament’s resolution.”
The target of Sunday’s attack was in Miran Shah, the largest town in North Waziristan and a base of operations for extremist groups including al-Qaeda and the Haqqani network. A senior U.S. official said intelligence had indicated that operatives there were “preparing explosives for use in attacks in Afghanistan, like the high-profile attacks in Kabul” on April 15.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the CIA’s covert drone program.
“Only individuals working directly on the explosives were killed or injured in this action, which we know with certainty helped protect Afghan and American lives,” the official said.
But Pakistan, in a statement late Sunday, called the attacks illegal and “violative of its territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...gotiations/2012/04/29/gIQAIprqpT_story_1.html
By Richard Leiby and Karen DeYoung, Published: April 29
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan— CIA drone missiles hit militant targets in Pakistan on Sunday for the first time in a month, as the United States ignored the Pakistani government’s insistence that such attacks end as a condition for normalized relations between the two perpetually uneasy allies.
The drone strikes, which have long infuriated the Pakistani public, killed four al-Qaeda-linked fighters in a girls’ school they had taken over in the North Waziristan tribal area, security officials there said.
Warning of diplomatic consequences, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the attacks, the first since Parliament’s unanimous vote this month approving new guidelines for the country’s relationship with the United States. Some politicians said the drone strikes might set back already difficult negotiations over the reopening of vital NATO supply routes to Afghanistan that Pakistan blocked five months ago.
Last week, after two days of high-level talks in Islamabad, Pakistan told U.S. negotiators that it would not allow NATO convoys to cross its territory unless the United States unconditionally apologized for November airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near the Afghan border. Although the Obama administration has expressed regret for the killings, which it said were accidental, the Pentagon says both sides share blame.
Washington has made it clear that an apology will not be forthcoming, but officials from both governments say they are committed to ongoing talks. A Pentagon-led team of 10 negotiators, including State Department and White House officials, remains in Islamabad to focus on getting the NATO supply lines open.
In a process triggered by the November U.S. airstrikes on the Pakistani border posts, Pakistan’s Parliament on April 12 unanimously laid down foreign policy guidelines for future dealings with the United States, then passed them to the government of President Asif Ali Zardari for enforcement. The “terms of engagement” called for an immediate end to the CIA drone strikes, which Parliament had twice demanded in recent years, to no effect.
But this time, the civilian leaders acted with more authority than ever before in the nation’s 64-year history. The military, which conducted all previous Pakistani foreign relations, stood back to give the lawmakers and the government room to formulate key policies and negotiate with the United States.
The guidelines also said the government should seek an apology for “the condemnable and unprovoked” border attack by U.S. helicopters and fighter jets in November. At various times since November, the White House had considered making such an apology, but after militant attacks in Kabul on April 15 — blamed on the Pakistan-based Haqqani insurgent network — the United States ruled that out.
The resumption of the drone strikes — while not unexpected, given their efficiency and effectiveness — highlights a schism in the U.S. approach to Pakistan.
“When a duly elected democratic Parliament says three times not to do this, and the U.S. keeps doing it, it undermines democracy,” said a Pakistani government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to preserve diplomatic relationships. “These drone strikes may kill terrorists, but the net loser is freedom and democracy.”
Prominent politicians predicted that the new drone strikes, the first inside Pakistan since March 30, would provoke a backlash against further negotiations on the supply lines and stir outcries that the United States has no regard for Pakistan’s sovereignty.
“There will be repercussions whether in the government or in the public or in the Parliament,” said Aftab Khan Sherpao, a National Assembly member who sat on the committee that drafted the guidelines. “In no case would we allow the NATO supplies now.”
Others saw the drone attacks as a provocation that undermined any notion that the United States had engaged in sincere, meaningful talks last week.
“The CIA could have opted not to go for a drone strike at such a crucial time, when senior U.S. officials are trying hard to iron out differences with Pakistan,” said Sheik Waqas Akram, a member of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s cabinet. “It shows that it has no regard for the Pakistani Parliament’s resolution.”
The target of Sunday’s attack was in Miran Shah, the largest town in North Waziristan and a base of operations for extremist groups including al-Qaeda and the Haqqani network. A senior U.S. official said intelligence had indicated that operatives there were “preparing explosives for use in attacks in Afghanistan, like the high-profile attacks in Kabul” on April 15.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the CIA’s covert drone program.
“Only individuals working directly on the explosives were killed or injured in this action, which we know with certainty helped protect Afghan and American lives,” the official said.
But Pakistan, in a statement late Sunday, called the attacks illegal and “violative of its territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...gotiations/2012/04/29/gIQAIprqpT_story_1.html
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German jihadist killed by US in March drone strike
By BILL ROGGIO, April 29, 2012
A German jihadist is thought to have been killed in an airstrike carried out by US drones on March 9 in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of South Waziristan.
The German, a known "Islamist" from Aachen, has been identified at Samir H., according to a report in Der Spiegel. Samir was one of 13 Taliban and "foreign fighters" who were killed in the March 9 strike in Makeen, South Waziristan. In that strike, the remotely-piloted US strike aircraft fired missiles at a pickup truck transporting Taliban fighters.
Samir was the "son of a Tunisian father and a German mother" and was "born and raised in East Germany," according to Jih@d, a website that tracks European jihadists. Samir "traveled to Pakistan in October 2009 with his wife and two children, and joined the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). In November 2009 Samir´s sister, at the age of 18, followed her older brother and made her way to the Waziristan tribal region."
Read more: German jihadist killed by US in March drone strike - The Long War Journal
By BILL ROGGIO, April 29, 2012
A German jihadist is thought to have been killed in an airstrike carried out by US drones on March 9 in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of South Waziristan.
The German, a known "Islamist" from Aachen, has been identified at Samir H., according to a report in Der Spiegel. Samir was one of 13 Taliban and "foreign fighters" who were killed in the March 9 strike in Makeen, South Waziristan. In that strike, the remotely-piloted US strike aircraft fired missiles at a pickup truck transporting Taliban fighters.
Samir was the "son of a Tunisian father and a German mother" and was "born and raised in East Germany," according to Jih@d, a website that tracks European jihadists. Samir "traveled to Pakistan in October 2009 with his wife and two children, and joined the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). In November 2009 Samir´s sister, at the age of 18, followed her older brother and made her way to the Waziristan tribal region."
Read more: German jihadist killed by US in March drone strike - The Long War Journal
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Drone Strike
MIRAMSHAH: At least eight persons were killed and several others injured when a US drone attacked a house in North Waziristan Agency on early Saturday morning, Geo News reported.
According to sources, the unmanned aircraft fired two missiles on a house in Darai Nashtar as a result the house was completely destroyed and eight people were killed and several others wounded.
Four drones were flying in the area after the missile attack as a result rescue work was also delayed.
The identity of those killed could not be ascertained yet.
US drone attack kills eight in North Waziristan - geo.tv
US drone attack kills 6 suspected militants in northwest Pakistan
By NBC News and msnbc.com staff
Six suspected militants were killed in a U.S. drone attack Saturday in northwest Pakistan, security officials told NBC News.
\
A Pakistani security official on condition of anonymity said the drone had fired four missiles and struck a compound in the forest-covered Dre Nishtar area of Shawal valley, a remote part of North Waziristan.
"Shawal is an area where militants from different countries had gathered and set up their sanctuaries," the official said.
He said mostly tribal militants, Punjabi Taliban, Afghans, Arabs, and Chechen and Uzbek militants have training camps in the area and often suffer losses in the drone strikes.
World News - US drone attack kills 6 suspected militants in northwest Pakistan
MIRAMSHAH: At least eight persons were killed and several others injured when a US drone attacked a house in North Waziristan Agency on early Saturday morning, Geo News reported.
According to sources, the unmanned aircraft fired two missiles on a house in Darai Nashtar as a result the house was completely destroyed and eight people were killed and several others wounded.
Four drones were flying in the area after the missile attack as a result rescue work was also delayed.
The identity of those killed could not be ascertained yet.
US drone attack kills eight in North Waziristan - geo.tv
US drone attack kills 6 suspected militants in northwest Pakistan
By NBC News and msnbc.com staff
Six suspected militants were killed in a U.S. drone attack Saturday in northwest Pakistan, security officials told NBC News.
\
A Pakistani security official on condition of anonymity said the drone had fired four missiles and struck a compound in the forest-covered Dre Nishtar area of Shawal valley, a remote part of North Waziristan.
"Shawal is an area where militants from different countries had gathered and set up their sanctuaries," the official said.
He said mostly tribal militants, Punjabi Taliban, Afghans, Arabs, and Chechen and Uzbek militants have training camps in the area and often suffer losses in the drone strikes.
World News - US drone attack kills 6 suspected militants in northwest Pakistan
![Bl[i]tZ](/data/avatars/m/41/41754.jpg?1322350299){kind=avatar}
Bl[i]tZ
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US is tightening the screws on Pak - No apology, no release of CSF till now, no let up in drone attacks. This is particularly interesting since MIRAMSHAH houses the haqqani network, the strategic assets of Pak army.
There must be significant anger among junior and mid level officers in PA, seeing their country's sovereignty continuously mauled by American forces.
There must be significant anger among junior and mid level officers in PA, seeing their country's sovereignty continuously mauled by American forces.
Bl[i]tZ;2900220 said:
Yes, which is why the US is pleading Pakistan to open the supply routes, & play a bigger role in the Afghanistan situation. The US is trying to act tough, but is getting frustrated with Pakistan; & despite all these drone strikes, the ground situation in Afghanistan has not changed one bit.
humanfirst
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US strikes have no relation to frustration with pakistan.The main reason for US having to conduct drone strikes remains the same as it was before-pakistan have no sovereignity over some of its own territories and terrorists are using those areas as safe haven,And the logical fact that terrorists having such a safe haven will vastly increase their capability and more importantly their morale.
Situation have improved over time,just look up at various industrial and infrastructural projects springing up in afghan each year,many in areas which were previously taliban controlled.
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ASIA PACIFIC Date Posted: 04-May-2012
Pakistan hardens stance on CIA's UAV attacks
Farhan Bokhari - Correspondent - Islamabad
Additional reporting by
Daniel Wasserbly Americas Editor - Washington, DC.
Pakistan's condemnation of an attack by a US unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on 29 April suggests a hardening resolve against similar strikes by the CIA against suspected Islamists in its unruly border regions.
"The government of Pakistan has consistently maintained that drone attacks are violations of its territorial integrity and sovereignty," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on 30 April. It added that the UAV strike was "in total contravention of international law and established norms of interstate relations".
At least three suspected militants died in the attack in North Waziristan. It comes at a low point in United States-Pakistan relations after 26 Pakistani soldiers died in November 2011 in an airstrike called by Afghanistan-based US troops. That incident led Pakistan to close the supply route from Karachi to Afghanistan for US-led troops and the expulsion of the CIA UAV programme from Shamsi airbase in Baluchistan province.
"Pakistan's disagreement with the US on the drone affair is so deep that, without resolving this issue, our relations can run into further trouble," a senior Pakistani government official told stated on 3 May. "We have told the US that drone attacks are a violation of a delicate red line for Pakistan."
The CIA has carried out UAV attacks on sites in Pakistan since the US invaded Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, often targeting Pakistani Taliban militants who posed a significant threat to Islamabad. By most accounts, US President Barack Obama's administration has ratcheted up the strike programme begun during George W Bush's presidency.
"The drones have been one of the most potent weapons in this US-Pakistan campaign against militancy," a senior Western diplomat said.
Previously, Pakistani officials publicly condemned UAV attacks but were willing to accept them as a useful weapon against militants. But they now say that growing public opposition has forced the government to take a harder line.
On 30 April, John Brennan, the White House's top counter-terrorism adviser, became the latest senior US official to publicly admit the use of UAVs in targeted killings.
"The United States government conducts targeted strikes against specific Al-Qaeda terrorists, sometimes using remotely piloted aircraft," Brennan told the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC.
He said the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which was passed by the US Congress after 9/11, allowed the president "to use all necessary and appropriate force" against states, organisations and individuals responsible for the attacks.
Pakistan hardens stance on CIA's UAV attacks
Farhan Bokhari - Correspondent - Islamabad
Additional reporting by
Daniel Wasserbly Americas Editor - Washington, DC.
Pakistan's condemnation of an attack by a US unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on 29 April suggests a hardening resolve against similar strikes by the CIA against suspected Islamists in its unruly border regions.
"The government of Pakistan has consistently maintained that drone attacks are violations of its territorial integrity and sovereignty," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on 30 April. It added that the UAV strike was "in total contravention of international law and established norms of interstate relations".
At least three suspected militants died in the attack in North Waziristan. It comes at a low point in United States-Pakistan relations after 26 Pakistani soldiers died in November 2011 in an airstrike called by Afghanistan-based US troops. That incident led Pakistan to close the supply route from Karachi to Afghanistan for US-led troops and the expulsion of the CIA UAV programme from Shamsi airbase in Baluchistan province.
"Pakistan's disagreement with the US on the drone affair is so deep that, without resolving this issue, our relations can run into further trouble," a senior Pakistani government official told stated on 3 May. "We have told the US that drone attacks are a violation of a delicate red line for Pakistan."
The CIA has carried out UAV attacks on sites in Pakistan since the US invaded Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, often targeting Pakistani Taliban militants who posed a significant threat to Islamabad. By most accounts, US President Barack Obama's administration has ratcheted up the strike programme begun during George W Bush's presidency.
"The drones have been one of the most potent weapons in this US-Pakistan campaign against militancy," a senior Western diplomat said.
Previously, Pakistani officials publicly condemned UAV attacks but were willing to accept them as a useful weapon against militants. But they now say that growing public opposition has forced the government to take a harder line.
On 30 April, John Brennan, the White House's top counter-terrorism adviser, became the latest senior US official to publicly admit the use of UAVs in targeted killings.
"The United States government conducts targeted strikes against specific Al-Qaeda terrorists, sometimes using remotely piloted aircraft," Brennan told the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC.
He said the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which was passed by the US Congress after 9/11, allowed the president "to use all necessary and appropriate force" against states, organisations and individuals responsible for the attacks.
Obama is frustrated with Pakistan:
Obama frustrated with Pakistan: Expert - Times Of India
The Afghan economy is not self-sustaining, it is entirely dependent on foreign funding. The fact that the Taliban & their affiliates have been able to attack sensistive locations in Kabul with such impunity shows that the drone operations have done little to stem the flow/momentum of militants on both sides of the border.
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