UAV Strike Killed 25+ In South Waziristan

Once again, an American UAV has struck at al Qaeda and Taliban targets inside Pakistan's troublesome frontier provinces. The latest attack hit a compound in the town of Malik Khel within South Waziristan, which is Taliban territory. There are conflicting reports as to the number of terrorists and Taliban killed, ranging from 25 up to 32. All of those involved appear to be foreign fighters. Bill Roggio reports that many were Uzbek mujahideen, and this particular area is controlled by Baitullah Mehsud.

Today's strike is the fifth attack this year and the first since Jan. 23, when US Predators conducted attacks in North and South Waziristan. The Jan. 23 attacks took place just two days after President Barack Obama took office.

The airstrike in South Waziristan is also the first since Senator Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, disclosed that the CIA was operating a covert air base that is used to conduct the attacks inside of Pakistan. "As I understand it, these are flown out of a Pakistani base," Feinstein said after brushing off criticism and protests over the attacks.

Senator Feinstein's spokesman later claimed she was referring to a February 2008 report in the Washington Post. In September 2006, the Asia Times reported the US was operating a secret base in Tarbella, a region 12 miles outside of Islamabad.

Pakistan's defense minister rejected Feinstein's claim on Feb. 13. “We do have the facilities from where they can fly, but they are not being flown from Pakistani territory," Defense Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said. "They are being flown from Afghanistan... I do not know on what she based all this.”

Senior officials in Pakistan's government and military, including the president, the prime minister, and the Army chief of staff, have repeatedly protested US airstrikes inside the tribal areas as violations of the country's sovereignty. The disclosure of the base puts the Pakistani officials in a difficult situation with the citizens of Pakistan.

Pakistani officials are in serious trouble with all this. On the one hand, they can't provide tacit and open approval for the airstrikes against targets inside Pakistan without provoking the sizable Islamist population to rise up against the government in Islamabad. On the other, they are continuing to struggle to control these frontier provinces and stem the tide of terrorism that spreads from those areas and the airstrikes are taking out terrorists associated with al Qaeda and the Taliban who support them.

The New York Times claims the following:

Some Pakistani security officials have complained that the American missile attacks have been aimed solely at Al Qaeda and Taliban who cross the border into Afghanistan to fight American and NATO soldiers.

The officials have said that if the Americans were going to attack targets in the tribal areas, where Al Qaeda, with the support of the Taliban, have built safe havens, the Taliban that operate against Pakistan should also be targeted. Mr. Mehsud is considered responsible for many of the more than 60 suicide attacks in Pakistan last year.

I'm not quite sure who that official could be, but they're in the minority or at least recognizes the threats posed by the Islamists. Further, the US is engaging in striking at only those al Qaeda and Taliban who pose a threat to the US; they're not overtly expanding it to all Taliban who pose a threat to Islamabad, which could coincidentally destabilize the Zardari government in Islamabad because public sentiment in Pakistan opposes these airstrikes.

The problem for Zardari's government is that they're incapable of controlling these areas on their own. The frontier provinces are autonomous and the Taliban control wide areas of the country, including into Swat. That's a sign that the Pakistani government has lost control over the situation and destabilizing acts could precipitate an even worse crisis in the region.