"In Swat Valley, US drone strikes radicalizing a new generation"

Lately a report “In Swat Valley, US drone strikes radicalizing a new generation” by Nic Robertson published in CNN. Report focuses on effects of drones in Swat. It says The boys in Swat aged 8 to 18, were all militants at some point, until they were captured or turned over to the Pakistani army. Since 2003 there have been more than 350 drone strikes in Pakistan.  According to The New America Foundation estimates that in Pakistan, drones have killed between 1,953 and 3,279 people since 2004 , between 18% and 23% of them were not militants. The nonmilitant casualty rate was down to about 10% in 2012. U.N. Special Rapporteur on drones, Ben Emmerson recently stated that "The consequence of drone strikes has been to radicalize an entirely new generation."

It was interesting to read that "If it is lawful for the U.S. to drone al Qaeda associates wherever they find them, then it is also lawful for al Qaeda to target U.S. military or infrastructure where ever (militants) find them." This edition is appealing in a way it has pointed out diverse affects of drones other than killings. It has pointed out the humanitarian and psychological threats posed by ‘drone war’ of US. It articulates drones are radicalizing a new generation and turning the young boys into terrorists.  US drones are currently creating havoc and the long term consequences are horrifying. The drone war will be resulted in creating more terrorists than eliminating terrorists. The report concludes that drones are unlawful, violates Pakistan’s sovereignty, killing more innocents than militants, pushing young minds towards extremism and leaving no difference between US and Taliban’s.  No doubt drones are destructive in every way and US need to seek new counter-terrorism policies to eliminate terrorists.

Asha Khan