Just one day after General Stanley McChrystal’s report on the way forward in Afghanistan was leaked to the press, the Obama administration is floating the idea of expanding the U.S. air campaign in Pakistan to defeat al Qaeda instead of ramping up forces in neighboring Afghanistan. From the Associated Press:
There are two very, very big problems with this idea. First, the U.S. air campaign in Pakistan has been effective; over the past two months alone, three senior al Qaeda leaders and a senior Taliban leader are thought to have been killed during the strikes. But, despite chest-thumping reports from senior U.S. officials, al Qaeda has not be reduced to a handful of leaders seeking shelter in the caves of Pakistan’s tribal agencies. The attacks have been effective in forcing al Qaeda to deal with leadership issues and focus efforts on force protection, but the attacks themselves will not defeat al Qaeda. Second, the unnamed U.S. officials are assuming that the Afghan Taliban have little to do with al Qaeda. But if you listen to what senior Taliban leaders say, the groups are closely integrated. Here is what Mullah Sangeen Zadran, one of the most senior military commanders of the Haqqani Network and the shadow governor of Paktika province, had to say during an interview with As Sahab, which, by the way, is al Qaeda’s propaganda arm. Sangeen is the Taliban leader that has custody Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier who left his post at the end of June.
The use of Predator strikes is a tactic to help defeat al Qaeda. Focusing efforts on al Qaeda alone in Pakistan at the expense of ignoring groups like the Haqqani Network is a losing strategy.
