Barack Obama confirms US drone strikes in Pakistan

President Barack Obama on Monday confirmed that US drone aircraft have struck Taliban and al-Qaida targets within Pakistan -- operations that until now had not been officially acknowledged.

When asked about the use of drones by his administration in a chat with web users on Google+ and YouTube, Obama said "a lot of these strikes have been in the FATA" -- Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

"For the most part, they've been very precise precision strikes against al-Qaida and their affiliates, and we're very careful in terms of how it's been applied," Obama said.

US officials say Pakistan's tribal belt provides sanctuary to Taliban fighting for 10 years in Afghanistan, al-Qaida groups plotting attacks on the West, Pakistani Taliban who routinely bomb Pakistan and other foreign fighters. According to the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, drone strikes in Pakistan over the past eight years have killed at least 1,715 people, and as many as 2,680 people.

The United States had until now refused to discuss the strikes publicly, but the program has dramatically increased as the Obama administration looks to withdraw all foreign combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. In October, US defence secretary Leon Panetta acknowledged the CIA's drone program, but did not specifically indicate they were used in Pakistan.

When asked by AFP if Obama's remarks signaled a change in US policy about the drone program, a White House spokesman refused to comment.

The Pakistani government is understood to agree to the program despite popular opposition at home. Drones have reportedly killed dozens of al-Qaida and Taliban operatives and hundreds of low-ranking fighters since 2004.But the missile strikes fuel widespread anti-American resentment, which is running especially high in Pakistan since US air strikes inadvertently killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.

AI joins Pakistan in protesting drones

ONE of the hallmarks of President Barack Obama is that he speaks in a free and frank manner to put across his point of view without caring for the consequences as, it is understood, the arrogant super power of the world can afford to do so. For the first time, he has confirmed that US drones have targeted Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants on Pakistani soil. Reacting to his remarks, Pakistan Foreign Office said the drone attacks were unlawful, counterproductive and hence unacceptable.

Pakistani reaction seems to be just rhetoric as the country has failed to take either tactical or diplomatic measures to get these attacks stopped despite the fact that these have led to the killing of hundreds of innocent souls including women and children. That Pakistan is on the right side is also vindicated by the stance taken by the Amnesty International (AI), which has urged the USA to disclose details of the legal and factual basis for the lethal use of drones in Pakistan. AI has called for monitoring of civilian casualties inflicted by drone attacks and accountability for such deaths. Though the demand of the AI is belated but it is still welcome as the attacks are continuing and there are indications that their frequency and intensity is going to increase in the period leading to withdrawal of foreign occupation forces from Afghanistan. We hope that AI and other torch-bearers of human rights would not leave the matter as such and take up the issue at every forum in a bid to sensitize the conscience of those who harbor these attacks against innocent people. Otherwise too, it has been pointed by all concerned that the attacks are counterproductive in that these inflame anti-Americanism.