We're constantly told that the U.S. Predator attacks against the Taliban and al Qaeda are turning the vast majority of the Pakistani people against America. A while back I noted that not all Pakistani want to see the strikes end. A survey that was taken in Pakistan's Pashtun tribal belt backs this up.
Between November 2008 and January 2009, the Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy conducted surveys in the regions the U.S. strikes have focused on: North and South Waziristan and the Kurram tribal agency. Here are some of the results:
Do you see drone attacks bringing about fear and terror in the common people?
Yes 45%, No 55%Do you think the drones are accurate in their strikes?
Yes 52%, No 48%Do you think anti-American feelings in the area increased due to drone attacks recently?
Yes 42%, No 58%Should Pakistan military carry out targeted strikes at the militant organisations?
Yes 70%, No 30%Do the militant organisations get damaged due to drone attacks?
Yes 60%, No 40%
The author of the article includes some interesting observations of his interactions with more than 2,000 Pakistanis living in the tribal agencies, such as this:
I asked almost all those people if they see the US drone attacks on FATA as violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. More than two-third said they did not. Pakistan's sovereignty, they argued, was insulted and annihilated by Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, whose territory FATA is after Pakistan lost it to them. The US is violating the sovereignty of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, not of Pakistan. Almost half the people said that the US drones attacking Islamabad or Lahore will be [in] violation of the sovereignty of Pakistan, because these areas are not taken over by the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Many people laughed when I mentioned the word sovereignty with respect to Pakistan.
Over two-thirds of the people viewed Al-Qaeda and the Taliban as enemy number one, and wanted the Pakistani army to clear the area of the militants. A little under two-thirds want the Americans to continue the drone attack because the Pakistani army is unable or unwilling to retake the territory from the Taliban.
Perhaps a ray of hope in an otherwise bleak situation.
