The unmanned, CIA-operated Predators or Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a compound and vehicle in the Miramshah area of North Waziristan today. Twenty-one “militants,” including foreign fighters, were killed in the attack, the first of its kind in Pakistan’s tribal areas in six days.
“At least seven militants were killed in the drone strike,” a Pakistani security official told AFP immediately after the strike. “All of them were Haqqani’s men.”
The number of fighters estimated killed rose to 21, and was said to include “Arabs and Uzbek nationals.”
“The dead included local Taliban as well as some Arabs and Uzbek nationals,” an intelligence official in North Waziristan told Reuters.
The Miramshah area is controlled by the Haqqani Network, a powerful Taliban group that is a favorite proxy of Pakistan’s military and intelligence services and is also closely allied to al Qaeda. The Haqqani Network shelters and supports al Qaeda, and launches attacks against Coalition and Afghan forces across the border.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the operational commander of the Haqqani Network, is a member of al Qaeda’s Shura Majlis as well as the Taliban’s Quetta Shura. The US government has put a $5 million bounty out for Siraj and has placed him on the list of specially designated global terrorists. Two of Siraj’s brothers, Nasirruddin and Badruddin, and his uncle, Khalil, have also been added to the US’ list of designated terrorists, for their activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as their support for al Qaeda.
In North Waziristan, the Haqqanis control large swaths of the tribal area and run a parallel administration with courts, recruiting centers, tax offices, and security forces. In addition, the Haqqanis have established multiple training camps and safe houses used by al Qaeda leaders and operatives, as well as by Taliban foot soldiers preparing to fight in Afghanistan. The Pakistani military has refused to move against Siraj and the Haqqani Network, despite his support for al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban. The Haqqanis are viewed by the Pakistani military as both a strategic asset against India and as Pakistan’s prime conduit for influence in Afghanistan.
The Predator strikes, by the numbers
Today’s strike is the third in Pakistan’s tribal areas this month, and the first in six days. The last strike, on Aug. 2, also took place near Miramshah.
From January through June 2011, the strikes in Pakistan were as follows: nine strikes in January, three strikes in February, seven in March, two in April, seven in May, 12 in June, and three in July. In the last four months of 2010, the US averaged almost 16 strikes per month (21 in September, 16 in October, 14 in November, and 12 in December).
So far this year, the US has carried out 46 strikes in Pakistan. In 2010, the US carried out 117 strikes, which more than doubled the number of strikes that had occurred in 2009; by late August 2010, the US had exceeded 2009’s strike total of 53 with a strike in Kurram. In 2008, the US carried out a total of 36 strikes inside Pakistan. [For up-to-date charts on the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 – 2011.]
In 2010 the strikes were concentrated almost exclusively in North Waziristan, where the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and a host of Pakistani and Central and South Asian terror groups are based. All but 13 of the 117 strikes took place North Waziristan. Of the 13 strikes occurring outside of North Waziristan in 2010, seven were executed in South Waziristan, five were in Khyber, and one was in Kurram. This year, an increasing number of strikes are taking place in South Waziristan. So far in 2011, 29 of the 46 strikes have taken place in North Waziristan, 16 strikes have occurred in South Waziristan, and one took place in Kurram.
Since Sept. 1, 2010, the US has conducted 107 strikes in Pakistan’s tribal agencies. The bulk of those attacks have aimed at the terror groups in North Waziristan, with 83 strikes in the tribal agency. Many of the strikes have targeted cells run by the Islamic Jihad Group, which have been plotting to conduct Mumbai-styled terror assaults in Europe. A Sept. 8 strike killed an IJG commander known as Qureshi, who specialized in training Germans to conduct attacks in their home country.
The US campaign in northwestern Pakistan has targeted top al Qaeda leaders, al Qaeda’s external operations network, and Taliban leaders and fighters who threaten both the Afghan and Pakistani states as well as support al Qaeda’s external operations. The campaign has been largely successful in focusing on terrorist targets and avoiding civilian casualties, as recently affirmed by the Pakistani military.
For a list of al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 – 2011.
9 Comments
Vienna,09-08-2011
I anticipate more deadlier drone attacks on Haqqani
network inside Pakistan as Ambassador Haqqani is
still active in Washington DC with the support of hidden
and acknowledged agents, an imperative forced on
Americans by the non NATO Offensive Defense anti
terror war partners of Pakistan. Even as reports come
from north, East Turkemenistan popular as Uighurs
Xinqiang under attack by the terrorists, Mandarin
Chinese People
It fazes me why the U.S. doesn’t simply declare, at this point, that the Waziristans are recognized by us as a country separate and apart from Pakistan proper.
Doing so would liberate us to liberate it from Taliban/AQ rule. Thereafter, we would and should turn it back over to Pakistan.
For all intents and purposes the Waziristans are an independent country warring on us. If we keep indulging it as a safe haven, this WoT will go on indefinitely and indiscrimately.
We shouldn’t kid ourselves. You can bet the ranch that Zawahiri is planning a move against the U.S. homeland from his own F.O.B. Waziristan.
Yes JRP. The reason why Islamist extremism was not squashed long ago was because of safe havens, particularly in the KP and FATA of Pakistan.
A lot of people think that the Internet is the ultimate safe haven for Islamist extremists. I disagree. I think if you eliminate the actual safe havens for these militants, everything else that would have happened as a result of their existence is negated.
A further thought occurs to me . . . This Waziristan situation has similarities to the U.S.-Mexico Border “war” that lasted from @ 1910 to 1920. We should consult our military and diplomatic records pertinent to that “war” for ideas to resolve this Waziristan problem with least offense given to Pakistan and most offense given to Taliban/AQ.
In one of those ironies of history, at present we are involved in difficulties at and around the U.S.-Mexico border.
I totally agree that we should treat Waziristan and or the NWFP as separate from Pakistan. They claim control over it but don’t control it. Haqqani is the President there.
Their strategic depth for India should be wiped out. Alternatively, they can get the Haqqannis to stand down on attacking anyone if they want to keep their strategic depth for India. Otherwise, there shouldn’t be much left.
The issue has always been the landlocked nature of Afghanistan. The Afghans and ourselves will always be at the mercy of the countries surrounding Afghanistan to get anything in or out of the country. The supply lines are the main holdup.
Or move the Durand Line to include the Pashtun “autonomous areas” in Afghanistan. Then put enough US boots on the ground to “neutralize” the nests of Taliban vipers before placing under Afghan control. So sorry, Pakistan, but if you can’t exercise even minimum sovereignty, and that costs American lives, you need to shrink to what you can handle.
The war is being fought in Afghanistan, staged through Waziristan but directed from Pakistan. Who does not understand this?
If Pakistan wants to claim control of the area, do not send in troops. Send in the population. Make a positive move INTO the areas. Even if the locals do not like the new homes being built, the new population surge would be enough to either call out the militants, or bring home the concept of ONE Pakistan. If the urban educated came en masse to the area, you will have a lot more calm and less drone flights. Most of the urban areas have family up there, so moving back home or closer to home, will be their incentive. The tribal incentive is what it always is, more people that can pay for more stuff in the market. Civil leaders are educated all over the country, time for civil leaders to move into the area, AND it won’t break the promise Musharraf made either. No army, just massive amounts of civilians (with guns).
Their strategic depth for India should be wiped out. Alternatively, they can get the Haqqannis to stand down on attacking anyone if they want to keep their strategic depth for India. Otherwise, there shouldn’t be much left.The issue has always been the landlocked nature of Afghanistan. The Afghans and ourselves will always be at the mercy of the countries surrounding Afghanistan to get anything in or out of the country