DRONES

Drone Attacks and International Defense



Drone Attacks and International Defense

Introduction

The government of the United States has been witnessed of making 100's of attacks in the north western region of Pakistan. This activity has been going on since. The attacks were made by the use of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), which were under the direct control of CIA's division of Special Activities (Ghosh & Thompson, 2009, N.P). These attacks were a part of the US campaign of 'War on Terrorism', which aimed at defeating the Taliban as well as Al-Qaeda groups operating within the boundaries of Pakistan. The attacks initially started in the rule of George W. Bush, however this activity have substantially increased since Barrack Obama became the president of US (Miller, G, 2011, n.p). These attacks are also referred to as drone attacks by the media and are mainly responsible for the creation of tension between Pakistan and the U.S.

These attacks were publicly condemned by the government of Pakistan and the people in general protested open heartedly. However, it is often argued that the government of Pakistan secretly permitted these attacks by sharing critical information with the U.S and also by permitting the U.S to initiate these drone attacks from the Shamsi Airfield in Pakistan in 201. It has also been stated by the Interior Minister of Pakistan Rehman Malik that though these drone attacks have managed to kill a few militants, but the majority of the killings have been of the innocent citizens of Pakistan (Hindustan Times, 2011, n.p). Up till today, the government of Pakistan is hated by its own people of allowing these attacks, regardless of condemning such activities.

It is important to note that these attacks are creating a widespread hatred in the general population of Pakistan, who once supported the 'War on Terrorism'. In addition to that, the CIA has repeatedly argued that the attacks have been able to kill a significant amount of militants and have caused no civilian casualties. These statements have been pointless and have even been called absurd by the various experts (Shane 2011, n.p). A widespread research conducted by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that around 391 - 780 civilians have been killed by these attacks and amongst them were 160 children as well. The Bureau also highlighted that 50 civilians have been killed in follow up attacks on so called militants, since Barrack Obama took over the presidential role.

These tactics have been referred to as unethical tactics and have been strongly condemned by the experts (Woods & Lamb, 2012, n.p). Furthermore, every attack increases the chances of retaliation from the militants as it increases their motivation level. In November of 2011, the forces of NATO were responsible of killing 24 Pakistanis (IBN Live, 2011). This incident was known as the Salala incident. Since then, the government of Pakistan forced the US to empty their Shamsi Airfield and thus it was evacuated when 150 Americans left and the base was taken over by Pakistan ...