Obama to Escalate Drone Attacks in Pakistan

As President Raises Prospect of Talks With Taliban, Attacks Will Escalate Even Further

Just days after President Obama spoke in an interview of reaching out to moderate Taliban in an effort to reconcile at least some aspects of the growing insurgency with the faltering Afghan government, reports are emerging that his administration is planning to dramatically escalate their attacks against Taliban targets in neighboring Pakistan.

One diplomat was quoted by the Telegraph as saying “there will be talks but the Taliban are going to experience a lot of pain first, on both sides of the border.”

The Obama Administration has escalated the number and severity of drone attacks since taking office, in spite of concerns from Pakistani officials that the attacks are increasingly destabilizing the already unstable nation. Though the Pakistani government has continued to complain about the drone strikes, there is an increasing amount of evidence that they have been directly backing them.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.