Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Drones

Drones

The CIA, keen to ‘hunt' and kill Taleban, is reported to be about to start flying armed drones, such as MQ‐9 Reapers, for the first time in Afghanistan. Credit: US Air National Guard photo/Senior Airman Michael Quiboloy 2014.

CIA-proxy militias, CIA-drones in Afghanistan: “Hunt and kill” déjà vu

Kate Clark •

Reporting from the United States has said that the CIA is expanding its operations in Afghanistan, running Afghan militias to “hunt and kill” Taleban and “poised” to start flying armed drones. The CIA has run Afghan militias in the past; they were notorious for human rights abuses and for not being subject to the state […]

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A Reaper drone flies a combat mission over southern Afghanistan (US Air Force/Lt. Col. Leslie Pratt: 2008)

Drone Warfare 2: Targeted Killings – a future model for Afghanistan?

Kate Clark •

Armed drones came of age, by chance, at the onset of the United State’s ‘war on terror’. Washington has used them ever since to provide close air support to troops on the ground and to carry out targeted killings. In Afghanistan, they have been relatively uncontroversial, but in other countries, their legality, effectiveness and potential […]

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A Reaper drone comes into land at Kandahar Airbase (Flying Officer Owen Cheverton: 2009)

Drone warfare 1: Afghanistan, birthplace of the armed drone

Kate Clark •

Using drones to carry out targeted killings has become an integral part of the United States’ ‘war on terror’. Afghanistan in the late 1990s was the laboratory where the US developed armed drones as it searched for a way to deal with Osama bin Laden who was then ordering attacks on American targets from his […]

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U.S. seeks new bases for drones [in Central Asia] targeting Al Qaeda in Pakistan

AAN •

Los Angeles Times, 16 February 2014 "The Obama administration is making contingency plans to use air bases in Central Asia to conduct drone missile attacks in northwest Pakistan in case the [US] is forced to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan at the end of this year, according to U.S. officials', the paper reports. … "Intelligence officials […]

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I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on

AAN •

Guardian Weekly, 3-9 January 2014 A commentary with a self-explanatory headline by a former imegary analysts with the US air force. She writes: "The US and British militaries insist that this is an expert program, but it's curious that they feel the need to deliver faulty information, few or no statistics about civilian deaths and twisted technology reports on the […]

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Taliban, Drohnen und Pakistans Staatskrise

Thomas Ruttig •

Neues Deutschland (Berlin), 11 November 2013 Read the article by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig on the killing, by a US drone, of Pakistani Taleban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, his succession by the “Radio Mullah” and implication for attempts to talk peace with both the Taleban of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Conclusion: President Obama’s anti-terrorism policy contradicts Pakistani Prime […]

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Fazlullah has Mulla Omar’s backing

AAN •

The News International (Pakistan), 8 November 2013 Although the "news" in the headline is not detailed and based on anonymous, somewhat dubious sources, the rest of the article is highly interesting because it details the inner strcutures and dealings of the Pakistani Taleban, in he light of the killing – through a drone attack – of […]

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Pakistan: Der ferngesteuerte Krisenstaat

AAN Team •

Wochenzeitung (Zurich), 7 November 2013 A guest article (in German) by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig, looking at the implications of the killing, by a drone attack, of Pakistani Taleban Hakimullah Mehsud, on Pakistan’s internal situation in which Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif desperately needs internal stability if he wants to tackle the complex socio-economic and institutional crises […]

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Tödliche Helfer

AAN Team •

Tagesspiegel, 23 October 2013 In an article dealing with German Bundeswehr demands about purchasing drones for Afghanistan, supported by claims that itwould help to reduce civilian casualties, AAN’s Thomas Ruttig is quoted as saying that he thinks this argument besides the point, with urban and rural areas not clearly distinguishable and lacking capabilities of the military […]

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Another Post-2014 Capability Gap: Spin and reality of the Afghan air force’s readiness

Gary Owen •

The Afghan air force (AAF) is of critical importance to the success of the Afghan National Security Forces, given the terrain and the continuing threat of roadside bombs. ISAF has been praising the ‘professional Afghan airmanship’ of late. But how accurate is this assessment? What is the Afghan air force’s real ability to provide for […]

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At war’s end, ramping up drone strikes in Afghanistan

admin •

Reuters (blog)
, 19 December 2012 Reuter’s Sanjeev Miglani
 picks up an under-reported issue: drone strikes in Afghanistan: ‘The United States carried out more drone strikes in Afghanistan this year than it has done in all the years put together in Pakistan since it launched the covert air war there eight years ago. […] U.S. Air […]

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