Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry was quick to issue a statement today condemning the latest US drone strike against the country’s tribal areas. The attack killed seven people, and according to some reports a high-ranking member of the Pakistani Taliban may have been among them.
The Pakistani statement reiterated the government’s belief that such strikes are a violation of national sovereignty and are creating many more militants than they are stopping. It was the first US strike since Pakistan’s election earlier this month, and the first since President Obama’s promise of additional transparency and accountability.
In the first indication of how much (or indeed how little) that promise actually means, the White House has declined all comments related to today’s strike, refusing to either confirm or deny that the attack even took place. This is, of course, the strategy the Obama Administration has been using from the start, with strikes killing thousands of Pakistanis, most of them unidentified “suspects.”
The strikes have fuelled considerable tensions with Pakistan, and the incoming government has promised to be more proactive in preventing future US strikes. Though the outgoing PPP criticized the drones publicly, there was a perception in both Pakistan and the US that they tacitly supported the program, and that perception was a big part of the PPP’s monumental collapse in this year’s elections.
The CBS report claimed the Taliban would be unable to carry out large scale operations due to the death of this one man. Interesting claim about someone they are not sure was even killed in the strike. The CBS report was an army propaganda piece that tried to say this one incident was a turning point in the war when most of those killed were once again likely to be women and children and other civilian non combatants.
Government propagandists and the media are betting that Americans are still mired in the "Great Men" theory of historical events. This despite clear evidence that cultural, societal and ideological movements build slowly, depend on the support of many and can easily survive the loss of one or more "great men" or "great women". Hence the celebration in the streets after the report of OBL's killing. It is probably a by-product of our rugged individualism and presidential political system – and short attention span.
Their entire agenda is based on people's short attention span, as well as on distracting them with other minor events
You're right. They're distracting us with the help of media and they always get what they're after
I have to be on their side for this one. The US were not right doing this. I'm a bit ashamed for them.
I've recently read in the newspaper that Obama wants to stop the NSA mass surveillance… I wonderhow will that change the attention this event has to get
I'm pretty sure that was BS and nobody's going to believe it 😀
do you really believe in promises made by the white house? of course now they are not saying anything about it
I'm glad they are doing the best they can to fight back. The US have been intrusive and disrespected their rights, it's the most natural thing a country can do.