{"id":12146,"date":"2012-01-31T00:01:33","date_gmt":"2012-01-31T00:01:33","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-01-31T01:01:56","modified_gmt":"2012-01-31T01:01:56","slug":"Obama-confirms-US-drone-strikes-in-Pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=12146","title":{"rendered":"Obama confirms US drone strikes in Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oh boy!
\n<\/strong>
\nPresident Barack Obama has confirmed for the first time that US drones have targeted Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants on Pakistani soil, a program that has escalated under his administration.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The government in Islamabad, whose relations with Washington sank to an all-time low last year, appeared to shrug off the confirmation but made a rare public acknowledgement that the program had “tactical advantages”.<\/p>\n

Asked about drones in a chat with web users on Google+ and YouTube, Obama said “a lot of these strikes have been in the FATA” — Pakistan’s semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the Afghan border.<\/p>\n

US officials say Pakistan’s tribal belt provides sanctuary to Taliban fighting in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda groups plotting attacks on the West, Pakistani Taliban who routinely bomb Pakistan and other foreign fighters.<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to an AFP tally, 45 US missile strikes were reported in Pakistan’s tribal belt in 2009, 101 in 2010 and 64 in 2011.<\/p>\n

The New America Foundation think tank in Washington says drone strikes in Pakistan have killed between 1,715 and 2,680 people in the past eight years.<\/p>\n

Relations between the United States and Pakistan deteriorated sharply in 2011, over the covert American raid that killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in May and US air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.<\/p>\n

Islamabad is now reviewing its entire alliance with the United States and has kept its Afghan border closed to NATO supply convoys since November 26.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Source AFP<\/em>
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