German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, while in Pakistan en route to Afghanistan this month, "pledged long-term support for Afghanistan, saying his country would continue engagements there even after 2014...." [14]
In the words of a Russian analyst:
"None of the targets set before the deployment of forces to Afghanistan has been achieved. The Taliban...have not been defeated, but military operations have been expanded. American and NATO forces have been denied access to many regions of the country. Consequently, it's incorrect to say that the allied forces control Afghanistan. In these circumstances, American and NATO forces cannot withdraw from the country because this may be considered as a defeat." [15]
In interviews with the Voice of Russia, Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi and Kabul-based political scientist Nasrullah Stanakzai averred that "Both the United States and NATO are unlikely to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan in 2014." Azimi added, "local government security forces will call the shots in Afghanistan by 2014, which, however, will unlikely see the pull-out of the US' and NATO's troops from this South Asian country." [16]
Not only are American and NATO troops not going to withdraw from Afghanistan or even began to "draw down" this year as President Barack Obama pledged on December 1, 2009, but their number has reached its highest level to date and the war has been expanded into Pakistan in the interim.
The Conflict Monitoring Center, an independent research group concentrating on South Asia, revealed in a recent report that U.S. drone missile strikes in Pakistan, described as an "assassination campaign turning out to be a revenge campaign," have killed 2,043 people, "mostly civilians," over the last five years. [17]
Last year was the deadliest year by far, with 134 missile attacks in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (overwhelmingly in North Waziristan) killing nearly 1,000 people.
The reports provided these details:
"People in the tribal belt usually carry guns and ammunition as a tradition. US drones will identify anyone carrying a gun as a militant and subsequently he will be killed."
"Many times, people involved in rescue activities also come under attack. The assumption that these people are supporters of militants is quite wrong." [18]
Over 700 people were killed in the Central Intelligence Agency-directed missile strikes the preceding year, meaning over three-quarters of total killings occurred in the past two years. At the beginning of 2010 Dawn, Pakistan's leading English-language newspaper, wrote:
"According to the statistics compiled by Pakistani authorities, the Afghanistan-based US drones killed 708 people in 44 predator attacks targeting the tribal areas between January 1 and December 31, 2009.
"For each Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist killed by US drones, 140 innocent Pakistanis also had to die. Over 90 per cent of those killed in the deadly missile strikes were civilians, claim authorities." [19]
On the last day of 2010 a commentary on China's Xinhua News Agency website stated:
"The number of air strikes doubled this year over the previous one, and the figure of people killed in these strikes also doubled, which shows the growing U.S. influence in Pakistan's territory."
"People killed in drone strikes are usually identified as militants or suspected militants by U.S. officials and Pakistani security forces. But the real fact always remains distant and far behind. There are never any details of the names of people killed in such aerial strikes in the media, nor are their identities confirmed or faces shown. The exact account always remains vague.
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