U.S. Drone Strikes With Deadly Accuracy
The Strike Was One of the Deepest Inside Pakistan Since Missile Attacks Began Years Ago
Taliban Takes Bloody Revenge
The Taliban have responded to the improved accuracy of the strikes with brutality. Militants have targeted people labeled American spies more than ever before, sometimes even assassinating them in public.
In the most recent case, two bodies were dumped on the side of the road in Ghulam Khan early this month with notes pinned to their chests. They read, "If someone spies for America they will also suffer like this," villagers told local journalists.
Pakistani officials have been inviting visiting U.S. intelligence officials to share both the information and technology the Americans are now using, insisting the Pakistanis could wage the same fight as the Americans are now.
"We have the ability, we have the will. We don't have the capacity," Gilani told ABC News when asked why Pakistan wasn't capturing senior militants. "Maybe they have some credible, actionable information, but at the same time, we haven't seen as yet."
Sharing its technology and informants is not a step the United States appears willing to take.
Pakistani officials here also argue the drone attacks hurt their efforts to curb militancy by increasing anti-Americanism and driving otherwise anti-Taliban residents to the militants.
"If there is a predator hit… that distract[s] the attention. And at the same time it is counterproductive that, again, the militants, and the tribes, they get together against those things," Gilani said. "The anti-American sentiments, then they grow and that is bad for the country."
Shah, the former intelligence agent, offered this assessment of the attacks. He says the new technology can be used to settle personal scores, helping drive up civilian casualties.
"There is much more accuracy, despite the fact that these devices are being used by the local tribesmen to eliminate their enemies," he said.
But Shah insists the local population on the whole will not openly oppose U.S. airstrikes if there are few civilian casualties and the target is a foreign militant, as it was today.
"Most of the population is a sort of hostage, and they know that these people have made our life miserable. They say -- if there's a correct target -- good riddance."
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