Though it hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, reports coming out of NBC News suggest the Obama Administration’s drone war against Pakistan’s tribal areas could be over as of this weekend, with a top official quoted as saying future drones entering Pakistani air space will be shot down.
The report cites a new defense policy by Gen. Parvez Kayani, Pakistan’s military chief, and would be in keeping with Pakistan’s decision last week to deploy air defense assets along the border with Afghanistan.
The deployments along the Afghan border come in the wake of a late November attack by US warplanes against a pair of Pakistani military bases in Mohmand Agency, though at the time there was no indication that it would extend to the constant US drone presence.
The drone strikes have killed thousands over the course of the past few years, and have come under considerable criticism for the large civilian death toll involved. It is ironic that after years of paying lip-service to the crisis the Pakistani government might finally halt the drones in response to an attack by manned aircraft.
Does Pakistan even have the capability to detect and shoot down asassination drones?
OH…. YEAH…!!!!! they DO, besides….. it is NO TIME 2B challenging their authority…. How much is fuel costing with the land route closed…??? It was average $4OO.OO a gallon when the land route was OPEN…. sometimes as high as $1,OOO.OO a gallon…
It would a terrible circumstance for Prez "O" to find Stalingrad in Afghanistan….!!!!
This is good move and it should have been done before. But USA should have stopped thislong before as you can see civilian deaths were far too large then the terrorists. They were not so precised and also it is agains moral values to cross other country border.
"They were not so precised and also it is agains moral values to cross other country border."
Good observation! The US government doesn't understand that if you don't respect the soveriegnty of other nations then someday they will be in a position to not respect your soveriegnty. I believe that day is coming whether Washington beleives it or not.
large civilian death toll involved How many years talking about 'civilians' by now? As if we can distinguish between the obviously-innocent and those they claim to be belligerant? Nope, I don't know how to say it better…I just know damn well it's wrong to speak as if they have 'legitimate' targets at all from what we know of their targeting; especially now that it has clearly expanded into the US via the Star Chamber bill that passed the Senate.
All Yank baby-killers burn in hell!!!!
Why not these drones used in america for alleged terrorists.
This is the time to stop illegal killings and is a slap on the face of humanity to kill civilians with out legal basis.
America has become a danger to the humanity in the world.
At last a threat to Obama's drone warfare.
As soon as Pakistan shoots down a couple of drones the Obama administration will treat them with some respect.
FORCE is the only thing that the Americans and NATO respect.
That is the reason for their failure to act against North Korea – because the Koreans have Nuclear Arms and will not hesitate to use them if attacked.
GO PAKISTAN.
Andron makes an excellent point. Pakistan is not taken seriously by the US and maybe shooting down a few drones will help. It is incredible that Pakistan stood by for so long and allowed a foreign country to invade it's airspace and kill it's people and not do anything about it.
Note that Pakistan only started to do something about it after its military installations were attacked. It didn't do this on behalf of its people.
Billions of DOLLARS courtesy of the US taxpayers is a very strong sedative for a few thousand tribal peasants losing their lives – at least for those who reside in nice houses in Islamabad and the more civilized areas where the politicians live, don't you think?
Maybe Pakistan also wants to sell one to Russia or China,
depending on which country doesn't gets the Iranian one:-)
W9
The way i look at this picture. This is an unwinnable war. You can never win and Idiology by force.
Newt "The Brave" tells us that someone must have the courage to tell it how it is. So these people, "the Palestinians", who have been terrorized, killed, maimed, ethnically cleansed from their ancestor's land that has been stolen from them or kept imprisoned on the remaining land in such deplorable conditions that even a Jewish member of parlament declared to be reminiscent of Hitler's Warshaw Ghetto, are the ones that Newt is going after? How courageous to be on the side of the bully and kick the victim while it is spasming on the ground from all the abuse it endured from over 50 years of brutal occupation.
Newt, indeed, your courage is inspiring.
You coward.