Officials in Washington say its drone strikes in the region have killed several high-value targets, including Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, and help protect troops in Afghanistan from attacks plotted across the border.
However, drone attacks are a sensitive issue in Pakistan as the attacks also fuel anti-American sentiment in the conservative Muslim country.
These attacks have been successful in the context of helping our effort inside Afghanistan. But they have not made a dent in denying the Taliban and al Qaeda safe havens in Pakistan. And the drone strikes require extensive support from Pakistan's military and US-led assets based in Afghanistan that operate in Pakistan's border areas. That is, we need eyes and ears on the ground to make the air strikes effective.
And we pay a price in public opinion for the last two years of strikes--just as we did in our no-fly zone enforcement missions during the 1990s over Iraq when Saddam ruled the place.
If we pull out of Afghanistan, who will provide the ground targetting and intelligence to strike terrorists?
If we pull out, how will be maintain strikes in the face of hostile propaganda that will turn Moslem public opinion against us? Remember, it doesn't take a whole lot to do that.
If we pull out, just where will we even base the drone units that we'd use?
We can't just abandon Afghanistan and pretend we haven't by continuing drone strikes. We need to beat down the Taliban and leave Afghan governments--from Kabul to the provinces and even villages--with the ability to resist terrorists who try to set up shop nearby.
