Unlike regular fighter/bomber aircrafts, where most objects on the ground are monitored only by pilots and decisions are made hastily in the cockpits, drones have a command and control center. In many cases, both pilots and commanders see the target on the same screen. Unlike pilots in the air, they don’t have to make hasty decisions, thus decreasing the chances of hurting noncombatants. Drones have been an important asset of the coalition forces in the war on terror. They have killed many high-ranking Al-Qaida and Taliban commanders and have disrupted their operations. Both the Taliban and the Western forces understand the efficiency, precision and lethality of these machines. Thanks to drones, Al-Qaida and Taliban commanders can no longer roam freely or hold public gatherings in both Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan. They are in constant fear of getting attacked by drones and are more afraid of them than boots on the ground. “Since drone operators can view a target for hours or days in advance of a strike, they can identify terrorists more accurately than ground troops or conventional pilots. They are able to time a strike when innocents are not nearby and can even divert a missile after firing if, say, a child wanders into range.”1
In early 2013, a key Taliban commander, Mullah Nazir, his deputy and eight of his men were killed in a drone strike in South Waziristan.2 Earlier, another senior Al-Qaida commander by the name of Sheikh Khalid Bin Abdul Rahman, a potential successor to Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the current Al-Qaida leader, was killed in a drone attack in North Waziristan.3
In late 2012, a few dozen Taliban wanted to attack Afghan National Police (ANP) and Afghan Local Police (ALP) checkpoints in the Charchino area of the Uruzgan Province. The sheer number of the insurgents and their proximity to the checkpoints, less than 200 meters, overwhelmed the police commanders; they asked for coalition support. The coalition forces sent a reconnaissance drone to the area. As soon as the drone started circling the attack site, the Taliban dispersed and ceased the attack. This small unarmed recon drone thwarted a major attack against Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) checkpoints and saved many ANSF lives.
In 2010, around half a dozen Taliban insurgents were burying Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) on the Highway One, the main highway to Kabul, in the Salar area of Wardak Province, when they were hit by a hellfire missile from a drone, killing four insurgents instantly4. IEDs were killing innocent Afghans on almost daily basis in that area; however, after that attack by a drone, the recon didn’t pick any insurgent activity in that vicinity for many months. A similar incident stopped insurgents from planting IEDs in Haftasyah area of Sayedabad district in the same province.
These are but a few examples of the efficiency of drones whether armed or unarmed. There are hundreds of such incidents where drones have saved civilian lives and have killed high-ranking Al-Qaida and Taliban commanders. Drones, on many occasions have also saved coalition and Afghan lives and have prevented possible attacks against them.
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