U.S. to provide 85 drones for Pakistan

[ghundal]

U.S. to provide 85 drones for Pakistan

English.news.cn 2011-04-22 10:48:40 ISLAMABAD, April 22

(Xinhua) --

A local English TV channel Express on Friday quoted unidentified U.S. military officials as saying that Pakistan will be given 85 small drones to fight the militants in the country's northwest tribal areas.
The news came shortly after the U.S. army chief Mike Mullen paid a visit to Pakistan.
On Wednesday, the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen arrived in Islamabad from Afghanistan for talks with the Pakistani military and political officials.
During his stay, Mike Mullen met with his Pakistani counterpart Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Khalid Shameem Wynne and other top Pakistani military officials including the Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Kayani.
The two sides mainly discussed the security issues, particularly the anti-terror war issues, as well as the ways to ease the current tension between the two allies, which resulted from a massive strike by U.S. drones on March 17th, that mistakenly killed over 40 civilians in Pakistan's northwest tribal area.
Pakistan's Army Chief Kayani openly condemned the March 17th U. S.drone strike against innocent civilians and was quoted as saying during Mike Mullen's visit in Pakistan that the U.S. drone strike has affected the anti-terror war between the two countries.
The Pakistani side, while turning a half-open half-closed eye on the U.S. drone strikes in its territory, has long demanded the U.S.side to provide it with the drone technologies, but the U.S. side has turned a deaf ear to such requests from Pakistan.
The unconfirmed agreement by the U.S. side to provide Pakistan with 85 small drones could be a comprise made by the U.S. army chief Mike Mullen during his visit in Pakistan in order to win the support and cooperation from Pakistan, especially from its army, in the fight in the neighboring country of Afghanistan.
The militants hiding in Pakistan's northwest tribal areas often launch attacks at the US-led NATO troops in Afghanistan across the border, posing a serious headache for the NATO troops there

[khushal]

No wonder all this talk about peshawar sit ins and Kayani is publicaly all of a sudden against it. Kayani wants to go down as a hero as standing up to the US while they are just paving the way for Pak military to do it.

[ghundal]

khushal, this is not directed at you, it just came after your comment LOL

here is your evidence you need. Is this enough? Are you going to support the drone attacks now from Pakistan against our Meshud and Wazir families?

Did it make a difference to you whether it was US or Pakistan? As I have said before, they are both one in the same.


But don't worry, they already fading away

[ghundal]

No wonder all this talk about peshawar sit ins and Kayani is publicaly all of a sudden against it. Kayani wants to go down as a hero as standing up to the US while they are just paving the way for Pak military to do it.

I think Imran Khan is genuine, thats why he has warned the Pak government not to stop his blockade starting this Saturday.

Explain what you mean, how would Kayani go down a hero, they are planning to use these drones against Pashtuns, aren't they?

[khushal]

The US military can still operate them, all they have to do is paint pak flags on them and have pak army take responsibility like they did during the arab israeli wars.

[Nokia_Apridy]

hemmmmmmmmmmmmm Wos Wokh da Gar Lanay Ragho

[ghundal]

Suspected drone strike kills 21 in Pakistan

By the CNN Wire Staff
April 22, 2011 1:19 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The strike comes two days after Pakistan condemns suspected U.S. drone strikes in the country
• The U.S. does not officially acknowledge the secret drone program in Pakistan
• The drone fires missiles at a Taliban hideout, officials say

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suspected U.S. drone strike in the Pakistani tribal region killed 21 suspected militants on Friday, intelligence officials said.
The drone fired five missiles on a hideout in the area of Mir Ali of North Waziristan, one of the seven districts of Pakistan's volatile tribal region bordering Afghanistan, two intelligence officials said.
The officials said the militants, who were staying in the hideout, were planning to move in Afghanistan for an attack against coalition forces.
The militants were local Taliban members from Orakzai agency, another district of Pakistan's tribal region, who were trained for war, the officials said.
The intelligence officials asked not be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Friday's drone strike was the 20 this year compared with 111 in all of 2010, based on a CNN tally.
The strike also comes two days after Pakistan issued a strongly-worded statement condemning deadly suspected U.S. drone strikes in the country's tribal region.
"Drone attacks have become a core irritant in the counter-terror campaign," a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday. "We have repeatedly said that such attacks are counter productive and only contribute to strengthen the hands of the terrorists."
The U.S. does not officially acknowledge the CIA's secret drone program in Pakistan, but it is the only country operating in the region with the capacity to carry out such strikes.
It was once widely believed that the program had the tacit approval and cooperation of Pakistan's intelligence agency.
Jouarnalist Nasir Habib contributed to this report.

[ghundal]

The US military can still operate them, all they have to do is paint pak flags on them and have pak army take responsibility like they did during the arab israeli wars.

US just did another drone attack just now, killing 21 people in Waziristan

Suspected drone strike kills 21 in Pakistan - CNN.com

with blessing from Pakistan.

Im sure Imran Khan will make good on his word.

We are like a beehive surrounded by enemies.

[khushal]

I think Imran Khan is genuine, thats why he has warned the Pak government not to stop his blockade starting this Saturday.

Explain what you mean, how would Kayani go down a hero, they are planning to use these drones against Pashtuns, aren't they?

Kayani would go down as a hero by standing up to the US and stopping them from carrying out any more drone strikes but under the table they would be doing it under the pak flag which makes it a muslim pak defending itself against radical militants vs a kufar US bombing muslims. The former is more politically correct than the latter.

[ghundal]

Kayani would go down as a hero by standing up to the US and stopping them from carrying out any more drone strikes but under the table they would be doing it under the pak flag which makes it a muslim pak defending itself against radical militants vs a kufar US bombing muslims. The former is more politically correct than the latter.

what do you think the pashtuns will do there in Waziristan? Whats your guess in response to this.

I mean this means Pakistan is going to please it master by killing as many pashtuns as they can.

[khushal]

I dont know if this all true or not but if it is then I think it will further destabilize Pakistan. As long as pakistani leaders dont match words with action, the people will eventually see their country as though they have lost it and then unity will disappear including in the military ranks. The feudal leaders will eventually be left lonely at the top because they are no longer able to fool their people. But if they somehow continue to make the people believe that India is going to invade and destroy them any minute then the people might stand with them. Remember the Wazir and masood militants according to official pak army are Indian agents.

[emkhan]

Toys

[ghundal]

U.S. departs Pakistan base, source says

By Nick Paton Walsh and Nasir Habib, CNN
April 22, 2011 -- Updated 1703 GMT (0103 HKT)


Pakistani protesters shout anti-U.S. slogans during a demonstration Friday in Multan following a suspected drone strike.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• U.S. military personnel depart a Pakistan base, a Pakistani official says
• The location is a hub of drone activity, another official says
• The news comes amid public furor over civilians killed in drone strikes

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- U.S. military personnel have left a southern base in Pakistan said to be a key hub for American drone operations in the country's northwestern tribal areas, a senior Pakistani intelligence official told CNN on Friday.
Drones are said to take off and get refueled for operations against Islamic militants from the Shamsi Air Base in Pakistan's Balochistan province.
News of a possible U.S. departure comes amid a public furor over American drone attacks, which have killed civilians.
A suspected U.S. drone strike Friday in the Pakistani tribal region killed 25 people, including eight civilians and 17 militants, a Pakistani intelligence source said. Another one on March 17 killed 44, mostly civilians.



Unmanned aerial vehicles


RELATED TOPICS

• Pakistan
• Drone Attacks

Another senior Pakistani intelligence official, who did not want to be identified discussing a sensitive issue, confirmed Americans had been using the base as a center of operations for launching drone strikes. He was not able to confirm if the Americans had left.
The first official said that American personnel were no longer operating out of the base, but he could not say whether they had left voluntarily or at the request of the Pakistani government.
The operation of the base -- which the U.S. government has not publicly acknowledged -- has always been presumed to have occurred with tacit Pakistani military consent.
It was not clear from the Pakistani officials when the presence there began or when it ended.
A U.S. military official who did not want to be identified told CNN: "There are no U.S. forces at Shamsi Air Base in Balochistan." He did not respond at the time or in writing to queries as to whether U.S. personnel had been based there in the past.
The departure of American personnel -- if confirmed -- would be significant because of increasing strain between Islamabad and Washington sparked by the drone attacks and the Raymond Davis affair in which a CIA contractor fatally shot two Pakistani men in a Lahore neighborhood.
It has always been unclear how many drone bases the United States operates in or near Pakistan. But Friday's attack in North Waziristan that killed 25 people would indicate the United States maintains the capability to strike tribal areas with drones.
Carl Forsberg, research analyst at the Institute for the Study of War think tank, said he doesn't think such a move would affect the effort using drones to target the Haqqani Network and other militant groups holed up in the tribal region.
Many strikes have been conducted from closer bases, such as those across the Pakistani border in eastern Afghan provinces. He said Pakistanis could be making such a move to appease a populace angry at the United States.
The southern air base, he said, doesn't appear to be integral to the tribal area fight and is probably a supporting base.
"It's not like the Pakistanis shut down the program," he said. "It's possible they want to do this as a means of pre-empting drone strikes in Balochistan," where there is a Taliban presence.
"The United States has an interest in going after the Taliban in Balochistan," he said, and in an ideal world the United States would like to target Taliban sanctuaries in that region with drones.
Also, he said, it's possible the Pakistanis are using pressure on the United States to offset any U.S. pressure on them.
He said it's no coincidence that the development emerged after Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Islamabad.
In an interview that aired Wednesday on Pakistan's Geo TV, Mullen spoke forcefully about the Haqqani Network, saying it "specifically facilitates and supports the Taliban who move in Afghanistan, and they're killing Americans."
"I can't accept that and I will do everything I possibly can to prevent that specifically," he said.
Mullen said Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence "has a longstanding relationship with the Haqqani Network. That doesn't mean everybody in the ISI, but it's there."
"I also have an understanding that the ISI and the (Pakistani military) exist to protect their own citizens, and there's a way they have done that for a long period of time," Mullen said. "I believe that over time, that's got to change."
A senior Pakistani intelligence official responded by saying, "We do have a relationship: that of an adversary."
"We have made our resolve very clear that (the Haqqani Network) is an enemy we need to fight together," said the official, who did not want to be identified discussing intelligence matters.
The Pakistani intelligence official told CNN that "we have our hands full" fighting other Islamist militant groups along the border with Afghanistan, notably those under the umbrella of the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, "and once we are through with them we can turn on the other (the Haqqanis). We do not have the capacity to undertake simultaneous operations."
The official said the "onus of providing proof of this" relationship was on the Americans and it was not up to the ISI "to start providing clarification."
Asked if offense was taken from Mullen's remarks, the intelligence official said: "Not personally, no."
In Friday's attack, a drone fired five missiles on a hideout in Mir Ali of North Waziristan, one of the seven districts of Pakistan's volatile tribal region bordering Afghanistan, two intelligence officials said.
The officials said the militants, who were staying in the hideout, were planning to move into Afghanistan for an attack against coalition forces.
The militants were local Taliban members from Orakzai agency, another district of Pakistan's tribal region, who were trained for war, the officials said. The intelligence officials asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
But the attack also killed at least three women when one of the missiles hit a house next to the targeted compound, officials said. The Pakistani intelligence source identified the slain civilians as five women and three children.
Friday's drone strike was the 20th this year, compared with 111 in all of 2010, based on a CNN tally.
The strike comes two days after Pakistan issued a strongly worded statement condemning deadly suspected U.S. drone strikes in the country's tribal region.
"Drone attacks have become a core irritant in the counterterror campaign," a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday. "We have repeatedly said that such attacks are counterproductive and only contribute to strengthen the hands of the terrorists."

[ghundal]

they kill 21 people in Waziristan with Pakistans blessing

[ScimitarXEdge]

in other words

Business as Usual.