World

Drone attacks in Pakistan to car bomb in NYC

By Chen Weihua (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-05-04 09:46

While the US government and military claim victories over the killing of Taliban leaders and militants in drone attacks, they may not realize that these operations by remote-controlled aircraft have created more enemies and even helped the recruitment of Taliban forces.

The fact of the matter is that the families, friends and neighbors of every militant and civilian killed in the attacks are much less likely to become friends with the United States than before. In Pakistan alone, fewer than one in five Pakistanis view the United States favorably.

So it should come as no surprise that some of these people might join the Taliban forces and carry out retaliatory attacks, targeting New York's Times Square or other American landmarks.

Charles Kupchan, a Georgetown University professor of international affairs who served on the National Security Council in the Clinton administration, told China Daily that over a wide range of bad guys Americans face in Afghanistan, only 2-3 percent fall into the category that cannot be turned from enemies to friends.

Kupchan's latest book, "How Enemies Become Friends" explores how adversaries can transform enmity into amity. He argued that diplomatic engagement with rivals, far from being appeasement, is critical to rapprochement between adversaries.

Unfortunately US President Barack Obama, who has vowed more diplomatic engagement with "rogue nations", authorized shortly after taking office to continue the drone attacks started by his hawkish predecessor George W. Bush.

The bomb scare at Times Square in New York could certainly find its linkage to the deep worry about drone attacks by residents near the Pakistan border region of Waziristan near Afghanistan.

Just like car bombs, drone attacks have not served to make our places safer. On the contrary, it is a cause of insecurity to Pakistanis, Afghans as well as Americans.

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