US Drone Strikes News & Analysis

Though it might seem otherwise, drone strikes aren’t the only tactical option for counterterrorism operations.

The Geopoliticalmonitor’s Zachary Fillingham examines the impact of Hakimullah Mehsud’s death on US-Pakistan relations, as well as the prospects for a negotiated peace between Islamabad and the Pakistan Taliban.

Examining the US military's slow but steady movement towards unmanned platforms.

What's at stake in Pakistan's upcoming elections?

Last week, a UN investigator called on the Obama administration to provide legal justification for its ever-expanding drone war in Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan.

Withhold $800 million in military aid, let it go through, or double it- no matter what Washington does it can’t escape the paradox that Islamabad is its most important ally in the war on terror.

It seems that Afghan and NATO authorities are once more seeking a dialogue with the Taliban- even after last year’s debacle of being fooled by a ‘very clever’ Pakistani shopkeeper pretending to be a Taliban official.

In a stark example of how drastically a situation can change in just one week, it seems that Pakistan is once again teetering on the brink.

This weekend’s double bombing in Kampala bears all the hallmarks of an al-Shabab attack. It seems that Somalia’s homegrown strain of the Taliban has struck outside its own borders for the very first time.

Two major developments occurred in Somalia last week: a merger between the Ras Kamboni Brigade and al-Shabab, and al-Shabab’s long-suspected but hitherto unmade declaration of open alliance with Al Qaeda. Both do not bode well for the survival of the beleaguered Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu.

Abdullah Abdullah’s decision to pull out of a second round of balloting will elicit sighs of relief in the short term, but it does so at the cost of jeopardizing the long-term chances for the success of NATO’s nation-building project in Afghanistan.

It turns out Islamabad's reprieve is to be short-lived, as the Pakistan Taliban are once again striking at the heart of the Pakistani state.

The rise of militant Islam in Pakistan ranks among countless examples of short-term political gain sacrificing long-term stability.

Recent drone attacks in North and South Waziristan can mean one of two things: either the Pakistan government is collaborating with the U.S. government in a new push against Taliban militants in Pakistan, or the U.S. government is continuing to ignore Pakistani grievances.