Is South Waziristan Going To Become a Killing Field For U.S. Drones?

Just last week I blogged about how NATO and the U.S. decided they had enough with the stalemates with Pakistan over supply routes and had settled on plans to use other central Asian countries in that endeavor and now, it appears that the U.S. is plenty pissed off at the Pakistanis' refusal to flush out the Haqqani Network from South Waziristan so the CIA is being given the green light to step up predator drones strikes in that agency.

From the report at DAWN:

Pakistan’s decision to suspend Nato supply routes has earned it the ire of the United States as US President Barack Obama approved an increase in CIA drone strikes in Pakistan’s territory on the same pretext, according to a report published in the LA Times, DawnNews reported.

The US has been mounting pressure on Pakistan to take effective action against the Haqqani network and militants in the South Waziristan region.

Here's the deal here with South Waziristan - the Pakistani military and government has refused, over the past four or five years, to conduct a military operation in South Waziristan - in every other province or agency in the northwest, they have - from Swat Valley to North Waziristan - the reason they have not touched South Waziristan is because that is where the Haqqani Network hang out and this faction of the Taliban are the ones that work with the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI.  The problem is this - this same Haqqani Network is the one that is making the most deadly attacks on U.S. troops inside of Afghanistan.  So we have the Pakistani government protecting the killers of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

If this does go down...holy smokes..we are going to see some real death tallies coming out of South Waziristan - the Haqqanis don't have a whole lot of practice going underground to avoid drones.  At the same time, this is shaping up for some Pakistani retaliation against the drones.

Drone strikes in Pakistan to be stepped up: report


WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s decision to suspend Nato supply routes has earned it the ire of the United States as US President Barack Obama approved an increase in CIA drone strikes in Pakistan’s territory on the same pretext, according to a report published in the LA Times, DawnNews reported.

The US has been mounting pressure on Pakistan to take effective action against the Haqqani network and militants in the South Waziristan region.

A US-based newspaper claimed that the Obama administration frustrated with Pakistan, over its hesitance to take action against the Haqqani network, suspension of Nato supply routes and refusal to conduct an operation against militants in the South Waziristan region, has decided to direct the CIA to step up the drone strikes in Pakistan’s territory.

The CIA has launched eight Predator drone attacks since the May 20-21 Nato summit in Chicago.

It is noteworthy that the US has yet to declare the Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation, itself.