President Obama confirms drone strike missions into Pakistan
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 5:52:01 by Hamza Jahangir
US President Barack Obama has confirmed that unmanned drones regularly strike suspected militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Mr Obama called the strikes a "targeted focused effort at people who are on a list of active terrorists".
The US does not routinely speak publicly about drone operations. Mr Obama made his comments during an hour-long video "hangout" on Google’s social network, Google+, which was also streamed live on YouTube.
More than 130,000 questions were submitted before the hangout began, and six people were invited to join the president online for the event. They were able to ask questions and seek follow-up answers from Mr Obama. The event ended
a week of social media engagement in the wake of Mr Obama’s State of the Union address on 24 January.
Obama administration officials, including Vice-President Joe Biden, held Twitter "office hours" last week. Asked about the use of drone strikes, which have increased in intensity during his presidency, he said "a lot of these strikes
have been in the Fata", or Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
The use of unmanned drones, operated remotely from the US, to target militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas began under President George W Bush Attacks more than doubled under the Obama administration. According to an estimate by
the New America Foundation there were 118 drone attacks in 2010 and 70 in 2011
Thousands of people have been killed by the strikes – civilians as well as militants, causing outrage in Pakistan. One of the deadliest attacks was in March 2011 when 40 were killed, many believed to be civilians at a tribal meeting.
Top militants believed killed by drones include former Pakistani Taliban head Baitullah Mehsud and al-Qaeda operative Ilyas Kashmiri
The strikes target "al-Qaeda suspects who are up in very tough terrain along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan," Mr Obama added. "For us to be able to get them in another way would involve probably a lot more intrusive
military action than the ones we’re already engaging in."
Few details are known about the covert US drone operation, which is run by the CIA and targets al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in the mountainous areas along the Afghan-Pakistan border. They often cause outrage in Pakistan, where
many assert that the strikes cause indiscriminate civilian deaths and injuries.
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=11298
Posted by Hamza Jahangir
on Jan 31 2012. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan.
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