Pakistan: Differing Views On U.S. Drones

Some Villagers Have Fled Border Regions In Response To The "Killer Mosquitoes," Or Drones

(CBS)  Written by CBS News' Farhan Bokhari

Guldasta Khan pointed towards the freshly painted graffiti which read "down with America" outside his slum dwelling on an outskirts of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, and cited that as evidence of "America’s growing unpopularity in Pakistan."

On Monday, Khan was once again frantically calling up his family residing in Pakistan's Waziristan region along the Afghan border, just after news came in of the latest attack by a U.S. unmanned drone aircraft.

For Khan, who left his native village behind in Waziristan two years ago, there is a constant struggle to keep track of his wife and their seven children. Driven to work in Islamabad as a shoe polisher, Khan was forced to leave his children behind, unable to rent a home on his meager income of 200 Rupees ($2.50) a day. Now he shares a one room slum dwelling with three other laborers, who also traveled from Waziristan.

"These drone attacks have made America very unpopular. Not everyone in my area is a terrorist and not every victim is guilty," he told CBS News in an interview.

Standing along a dusty track across the road from Islamabad's suburban vegetable and fruit market, Khan claims his neighborhood has many men who have similarly traveled from the border region, driven away by almost six years of fighting between Pakistani troops and militants linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Khan believes there is "no one [in the border region] who does not resent the use of drones," adding that a nickname for drones which is "killer mosquitoes" among some locals in the border region, "does not do justice to their menacing effect."

For others such as Kashkol Khan, a carpenter who also traveled from Waziristan to Islamabad last year to earn a living, the feelings are similar. "In the old days when we did not have modern weapons, incoming enemy planes could be confronted by Pakistan's air force. But there is no defense against these drones," he said in a CBS News interview.

Analysts and western diplomats however come across with a different view. In the past week, Pakistani media have widely reported that Pakistan has quietly given its consent to the U.S. to use drones over its territory. This was subsequent to an assessment made by the Pakistani military some years ago which concluded that it was very difficult for Pakistan's troops to quickly become deployed in remote locations where the militants have entrenched themselves firmly. Those reports were subsequently denied by Pakistani government officials.

"Imagine, not having to drive hundreds of troops to a remote location and then having to be in a hand to hand combat in certain situations. Which do you prefer? The use of a drone or hand to hand fighting," asked a senior western diplomat based in Islamabad.

Pakistani government officials play down the significance of largely vocal protests by those opposed to the use of drones, notably Islamist politicians and nationalists. There have been some public protests on this issue, though they have largely remained peaceful.

"It is of course offensive to see planes of another country come to your territory and kill your people. But this is a unique situation where we don’t have the technology and the U.S. has that technology," said one senior Pakistani government official speaking to CBS News on condition of anonymity. "While you see much graffiti in parts of Pakistan, so far people haven't protested in the extreme. We haven't had million people marching against the use of drones," concluded the government official.

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THE PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN IS A CHILD MOLESTER

[sandy19731]

We are killing people indiscriminately without any kind of a trial or declared war, and yet they do not like us.

Go figure!
For the defenders, should we do the same in our slums to gangs?

[yongamerica]

The Pakistan government, the cowards that they are, should act on their words and fight the very terrorism that is taking over their country. But that is hard to do, when the Pakistani government turns French and just hands over their country to the terrorists without giving them half a fight.

[bill517]

Who cares whether they like it or not? They are harboring terrorists and have been warned that we will defend ourselves assertively in that situation.

[bill517]

Who cares whether they like it or not? They are harboring terrorists and have been warned that we will defend ourselves assertively in that situation.

[nomealaska]

Afghanistan and Pakistan should have been our focus from the start, and not Iraq. Since we''ve put forward a wussy effort so far in Afghanistan and have buddied up with Pakistan, the few enemies we had there have become many. Of course, now we have armed and trained thousands of Iraqis that also dislike us as occupiers of their country, so things are likely to go bad. Oh yeah, in the process of alienating all the decent people in the world, we have screwed up the world''s economy for the near-future generations. The good news...If we are poor, then maybe we can''t afford to buy tropical hardwoods and slave-labor chocolate! Score one for the earth and humanity!

[tomar0317]

If these folks would stop harboring and protecting the enemy this wouldn''t be an issue. Of course had we done what we should have 8 years ago and gone after Bin Laden like we were told we would, this wouldn''t be an issue now either.

[mysteriousjz]

I have relations to the region and I know both the "worlds." The US media is simply fear-mongering at least in this excerpt-"Talibans" are not expanding nor there is any threat that any Pakistanis feel. While the Pakistani govt. is simply idiot and self-serving, sugar-coating its own crimes. Nevertheless, neither one has any support among any class of Pakistanis. "Talibans" are just as any citizen as you may find anywhere in Pakistan-Meaning their culture, appearance, religious beliefs and lifestyles are very similar. Therefore, Pakistanis, even those not so "religious ones" have great sympathy for their brethren, their own, being killed in cold-blood-They all feel attacked for who they are and are living in terror not knowing when and where the next "Angels of Peace" will land.

The "Taliban" is simply a fabricated icon of the west. US has always called the indigenous barbarians, brutal, thugs, terrorists in every continent to legitimize its barbaric imperilaism. I am not sure if US is doing this deliberately to intimidate Islamic world with their wrath or if there is a cultural misunderstanding where people are being slaughtered for who they are and how they live their lives. In either case, the outcome is NOT in US favor.

[questionnews]

"Killer Mosquitoes"

Just wait till we send them some Killer Bees!