Security

Pakistan Ambassador: We Can Handle the Killer Drones

Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States confirms that his country wants to operate the unmanned aircraft that are killing insurgents in Pakistan’s frontier regions. The Pakistani press has already reported on demands from Pakistani officials to take control of U.S. drones operating in their airspace. And now in an interview with San Antonio Express-News military […]

predator-armedPakistan's ambassador to the United States confirms that his country wants to operate the unmanned aircraft that are killing insurgents in Pakistan's frontier regions.

The Pakistani press has already reported on demands from Pakistani officials to take control of U.S. drones operating in their airspace. And now in an interview with San Antonio Express-News military reporter Sig Christenson, Ambassador Husain Haqqani says the U.S. drone war is “creating more Taliban.” Those weapons, he suggests, should be under Islamabad's control.

“Do we want to lose the war on terror or do we want to keep those weapons classified?” Haqqani said. “If the American government insists on our true cooperation, then they should also be helping us in fighting those terrorists.”

As we've reported here before, U.S. drones have struck dozens of targets in Pakistan over the past few months. Critics have argued that the stepped-up drone campaign has been largely counterproductive, as it has created civilian casualties and inflamed Pakistani public opinion. But while Pakistani leaders have complained about the drones in public, they have also cooperated in secret with the remote-control war. So it's worth asking: Would a Pakistani-run drone war be somehow less unpopular? And would it be more successful?

Since 9/11, the United States has sunk around $10 billion into tooling up the Pakistani military to fight terrorists. The record, thus far, has been dismal. In recent testimony, counterinsurgency guru David Kilcullen offered this sobering insight: "Rather than continuing to pretend that Pakistan is a weak but willing ally against extremism, we need to recognize that while some elements in Pakistan – some elected civilian political leaders, the majority of the Pakistani people, many tribal and community leaders and some appointed administrative officials – are
genuinely committed to the fight against extremism, substantial parts of the Pakistani security establishment
are complicit with the enemy, whether through incompetence, intimidation or ill intent."

In short, Pakistan is doing an excellent job of losing its internal war against militant extremists. And while the U.S. drone war may not be aiding the cause, ceding control of this top-secret program to Islamabad seems an unlikely fix.

[PHOTO: Wikimedia]

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