India Must Study The U.S. Drone Strikes in Pakistan
Dated : 28 Dec 2020 (IST)
Pakistan is not paying much attention to appeals fro India and many countries in the World to stop all support it is presently extending to terrorist outfits, The two surgical strikes by India have sent some fear into the minds of the DEEP STATE within Pakistan.
However it needs to be reduced to acceptable limits, as has been achieved by the Americans with respect to strike against their forces.
So now Indian forces too must study the drone strikes carried out by the American forces inside Pakistan since the days of Bush Junior.
Then if the DEEP STATE still does not pay any heed then India should carry out a series of surgical strikes against terrorist targets DEEP inside Pakistan.
Below is a summary of the American drone strikes inside Pakistan:
On June 19, 2004, the United States undertook its first known drone strike in Pakistan, beginning a covert war that would kill thousands of people. Since that first strike, which killed prominent Taliban leader Nek Muhammad in South Waziristan, the use of drones in Pakistan has remained shrouded in mystery with the government often denying that strikes took place or that civilians were killed. In the last year of his administration, President Obama began to release information on strikes outside of traditional war zones. This site provides a detailed and public look at the drone war in Pakistan by drawing upon credible reporting and government statements to track the drone war.
Total Strikes and Fatality Estimates, by Administration
| President | Total Strikes | Civilian Casualties | Militant Casualties | Unknown Casualties | Total Casualties |
| Bush | 48 | 116 – 137 | 218 – 326 | 65 – 77 | 399 – 540 |
| Obama | 353 | 129 – 162 | 1,659 – 2,683 | 146 – 249 | 1,934 – 3,094 |
| Trump | 12 | 0 – 4 | 32 – 60 | 0 – 2 | 32 – 66 |
| All Presidents | 413 | 245 – 303 | 1,909 – 3,069 | 211 – 328 | 2,365 – 3,700 |
Under the Bush administration, the drone war remained relatively limited in Pakistan until 2008, when the administration began to escalate the number of strikes. The Obama administration continued to escalate strikes, peaking in 2010 and then beginning a slow decline until 2016 when the Obama administration conducted only three known strikes in Pakistan. On May 21, 2016, the United States conducted its last drone strike in Pakistan under Obama, killing then-Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in Balochistan. No strikes were conducted in the last eight months of the administration.
On January 20, 2017 Donald Trump became president and inherited a drone war in Pakistan that had halted. On March 2, the Trump administration conducted its first strike in Pakistan ending a more than nine month pause in strikes.
With the exception of the final strike of the Obama administration, the American drone war in Pakistan has been located in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along Pakistan’s northern border with Afghanistan.
Which Militant Leaders Have Been Killed in Strikes?
Many key al Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been killed in strikes since the beginning of the campaign. The map below shows the strikes in which leaders were killed, and it can be toggled to view the data as a list.
| Date | Leader(s) | Leader Description | Village | Region | Media Outlets |
| February 08, 2018 | Khalid Mehsud | The deputy commander of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), alternatively referred to as Khan Said and Khan Said Mehsud, and also known by his alias, Sajna. | Gorwak | North Waziristan | BBC, RFE/RL, Reuters, AP, Voice of America, Dawn, Express Tribune |
| January 24, 2018 | Ahsan Khorai and Nasir Mehmood | Haqqani commanders | Speen Thal Dapa Mamuzai | Kurram Agency | Reuters, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, New York Times, U.S. News, Xinhua News |
| December 26, 2017 | Jamil-ud-Din (RFE/RL), Jamiuddin (Reuters), Juma Khan (TOLO) | Haqqani commander | Mata Sangar, near Ghuzgarhi | Kurram Agency | Dawn, Reuters, RFE/RL, TOLO News, Pajhwok, Khaama Press |
| October 16, 2017 | Sangeen Wali | A top commander of the Haqqani network | Maqbal | Kurram Agency | ABC News, Express Tribune, The Nation, Pakistan Today, Miami Herald, Japan Times |
| July 03, 2017 | Pir Agha | ISIS commander | Marghalan | South Waziristan | Dawn, Pajhwok/MENAFN |
| June 12, 2017 | Identified as Abubakar Haqqani | A commander of Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network | Hangu district | Khyber Punkhtunkhwa | RFE/RL, Dawn, VOA, ET, The Nation |
| April 26, 2017 | Abdur Rahman, Akhtar Mohammad, and Abdul Raheem | Rahman and Mohammad, “two militant commanders,” and Raheem, a “key al-Qaeda commander” | Lawara Mandi | North Waziristan | , Fox News/Associated Press, AFP/The News, Daily Times, Tolo News |
| March 02, 2017 | Qari Abdullah Subari | Senior Taliban commander | Sara Khwa, Kurram Agency | South Waziristan | Reuters, Dawn, ET, Hindustan Times, AP |
| May 21, 2016 | Mullah Akhtar Mansour | Emir, Taliban | Dahl Bandin | Balochistan | Guardian, Reuters, AJE, ET, VoA, CNN, NYT |
| January 09, 2016 | Maulana Noor Saeed | Commander, Pakistani Taliban | Mangrooti | North Waziristan | Express Tribune, Express Tribune, Dawn |
Over the course of the drone war in Pakistan, the targets of strikes began to change. Whereas more than a third of the Bush administration’s strikes targeted al Qaeda, that percentage had dropped substantially by the Obama administration and was replaced by a greater proportion of strikes on the Taliban and Haquanni networks.
