Us drone strike2/24/2023 ![]() Importantly, he examined closely the model of al-Zawahiri’s house that the intelligence community had built and brought into the White House situation room for briefings on this issue”, the official said.īiden sought explanations of lighting, weather, construction material and other factors that could influence the operation and reduce the risk of civilian casualties, the official added. The president “asked detailed questions about what we knew and how we knew it. Secondly, the sooner an inclusive set-up takes power in Kabul the better this dispensation should lead efforts against IS and other terrorist outfits, and be aided by the international community for the safety of Afghanistan, and the region.Ayman al-Zawahiri, left, pictured with Osama bin Laden in Khost, Afghanistan, in 1998. Firstly, unilateral strikes may result in further civilian casualties, and there will be no one to independently verify if indeed terrorists have been taken out, or if non-combatants have also been hit. However, should the US choose to play lone ranger, things will get more complicated. Without doubt, Afghans know their country best, and if local intelligence and foreign firepower are combined, the IS threat can be eliminated. ![]() As this paper has argued, the anti-IS effort in Afghanistan should be led by Afghan forces - the Taliban as well as their political opponents - aided by regional states as well as international powers. Instead of reducing terrorism, this approach has only resulted in greater chaos, as witnessed in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the US tends to consider itself above the international rules-based order, often flexing its considerable military muscle while ignoring the sovereignty of independent states. However, the key question is how to calibrate a proper response. Indeed, Afghanistan cannot be abandoned so that IS and those of their ilk can take advantage of the chaos and vacuum in governance and spill more innocent blood. Read: 'We are not ISIS': Children among at least 6 Afghan civilians killed in US drone strike in Kabul While the US military says it has launched investigations, the Afghan Taliban have condemned the “arbitrary attack that has resulted in civilian casualties”. The second incident has particularly raised controversy, as eyewitnesses claim civilians - including children - were hit, not IS terrorists. Over the weekend, the US struck a ‘planner’ of the IS in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, while this operation was followed up by another American drone strike in Kabul on Sunday. ![]() However, instead of America acting on its own, the anti-IS effort should be spearheaded by the Afghans, supported by regional and international powers. The US acted in response to the bloody suicide bombing outside Kabul airport last week, in which nearly 175 people were killed, including over a dozen American soldiers. Second, it demonstrates Washington’s imperial overreach that has yet again caused unacceptable collateral damage. ![]() For one, they violate the sovereignty of a country that the US has basically washed its hands of. THE American unilateral drone strikes on what it says are militants of the self-styled Islamic State group active in Afghanistan are deeply problematic. ![]()
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