Wages of War on Terror

Ambiguity surrounds Wednesday’s missile strike in North Waziristan by the American-led coalition forces based in Afghanistan. The attack killed two women and two children and none of the militants. The Pakistan Army spokesman says the army has launched a protest with the coalition forces; the latter say they had informed the Pakistanis of the offensive. If that is the case, it is not clear whether the protest launched by Pakistan is over the Americans’ missile attack on militants inside Pakistani territory — an idea which finds ready appeal with many US officials and leaders — or over the targeting of the wrong people. Given the number of strikes launched inside Pakistan by the coalition forces in recent months, it is credible that a tacit understanding may exist between Washington and Islamabad over such strikes. If so, it is all the more important to augment the existing communication and intelligence-sharing mechanisms between the two sides to avoid loss of innocent lives, as has been the case in the latest strike. By comparison, last January’s attack in North Waziristan, which reportedly killed the Al Qaeda commander Abu Laith al-Libi, caused little embarrassment to anyone involved.

The death of women and children in Wednesday’s attack cannot be explained away as ‘collateral damage’; no such sinister terminology can justify the killing of civilians. Militants are known to have used innocent people as human shields to avoid strikes against themselves, but the appalling record of American failures in targeting the right people is also a fact. Here may be the world’s best equipped army in terms of its firepower; but it is American intelligence behind the US forces which has been found woefully lacking in identifying the right targets time and again. The precision-guided missiles will land where they are programmed to; on the ground this has had little to do with whether they have been actually landing in the right place, destroying the targets meant to be hit — and not innocent civilians.

The answer lies in strengthening coordination between the Pakistan Army and the coalition forces operating from across the border inside Afghanistan. That is, indeed, if the American policy of launching missile attacks inside our territory is to be tolerated at all. Unless all loopholes in the lines of communication and intelligence-sharing are plugged, further loss of innocent lives cannot be ruled out. With the political government ready to assume office in Islamabad in the days ahead, it is important that the subject is revisited with the Americans. If the ‘hot pursuit’ policy is to be agreed to, it must be made conditional on putting further safeguards in place to keep the civilian population residing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border out of harm’s way.