CIA operating drone base in Saudi Arabia, US media reveal

[cosmicone]

29. Certainly

http://mercury.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ISN/118844/ipublicationdocument_singledocument/6b2f708d-2657-4df1-9b9c-d840cf0627dc/en/CSS_Analysis_78.pdf

"Upon being inducted into Afghanistan, drones became a favoured means of assassinating Taliban leaders. Fear of drone strikes led to the Taliban randomly executing members of local tribes on suspicion of being informers. This in turn, increased the flow of community intelligence to security forces, as the tribesmen sought revenge. Of late, US intelligence agencies have been able to build informer networks in regions that were previously closed to their personnel."

"Finally, although drones are depicted as undermining Pakistani sovereignty, the fact remains that Islamabad is happy to countenance their use. 80 % of drone strikes have been concentrated in the Waziristan region, which constitutes the home base of the Pakistani Taliban, a group opposed to Islamabad. Although publicly, Pakistani officials denounce these strikes, in private some officials criticise their American counterparts for not carrying out more strikes."

Afgani leaders like Abdullah Abdullah and Hamid Karzai have welcomed the drones time and time again because of the fundamental fact that unless the Taliban network is severely crippled, they will choke the fledgling democracy in Afghanistan with Pakistani military and ISI help. The Taliban were actually not an Afghani force but was a Pakistani force. Read about the Kunduz Airlift where Musharraf tricked GWBush and withdrew thousands of Pakistani military fighters from Afghanistan before the US invasion.