Drone attack
October 13, 2011
A high-ranking member of the Haqqani Network has been killed in an American missile strike on Thursday in northwestern Pakistan. He was identified as Jalil, a Haqqani "coordinator." AP reports two other militants were killed in the attack close in the Haqqani stronghold of North Waziristan, the group's main sanctuary along the Afghan border, according to anonymous Pakistani officials in the region.
The missiles hit close to Dande Darpa Khel village, which is home to a large seminary with links to the Haqqanis. The men had been walking down a street when the drone-fired missile hit, the officials said.
The strike came hours before the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, arrived in Pakistan to attempt to ease strained relations and discuss further cooperation against terrorism.
US presence in Afghanistan
The al Qaeda-allied Haqqani group is one of most organized insurgent factions fighting the US presence in Afghanistan, and it has been blamed for high-profile attacks on Western and Afghan targets in the Afghan capital, Kabul, including the September 13 attack on the US embassy and NATO headquarters there.
Washington has long urged Islamabad to take action against the group, who use North Waziristan as a base despite the region being home to several thousand Pakistani troops. The network recently became the centrepiece of a spat between Washington and Islamabad, whom the former accused of collaborating with the Haqqanis. The allegation made by Admiral Mike Mullen started a bitter quarrel which further strained the allies’ on-off relationship.
Negotiations
More recently, however, the US government has distanced itself from the comments made by its former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, who was the top US military officer until he retired last month. There is even talk in Washington of including members of the Haqqani Network, whom the US recently placed on its list of terrorist groups, in peace talks – a controversial idea among US government officials.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signalled earlier this week that the United States remains open to the possibility of peace negotiations which could include the Haqqani Network.
"Where we are right now is that we view the Haqqanis and other of their ilk as, you know, being adversaries and being very dangerous to Americans, Afghans and coalition members inside Afghanistan, but we are not shutting the door on trying to determine whether there is some path forward," Reuters reported Clinton as saying.
US opposition
In recent months reconciliation has become a more prominent feature of Obama's Afghan strategy as US and NATO soldiers are due to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014. The change in US strategy comes at a time where drone strikes are contributing towards an increase in opposition to US forces among the Afghan and Pakistani peoples.
Since 2008, the United States has escalated its strikes by unmanned aircraft against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants hiding in Pakistan's rugged tribal region, from which they conduct cross-border attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.
AP reports 50 drone strikes, most of them on targets in North Waziristan, this year alone. US officials do not acknowledge the CIA-led program publicly. Pakistani officials protest the strikes, which are unpopular among many Pakistanis, but the country is believed to support them tacitly and makes no diplomatic or military efforts to stop them.
Author: Sarah Berning (AP, dpa, Reuters)
Editor: Grahame Lucas