We’ve had another predator strike in Pakistan, as the Pak’s negotiate a deal with religious extremists to allow them to impose Sharia law on what once was a western tourist mecca:

Pakistan agreed on Monday to restore strict Islamist law in the Swat valley to pacify a revolt by Taliban militants, and a suspected U.S. drone fired missiles in the region killing at least 26 people.

The decision on Islamic law is likely to draw criticism from the United States and other Western powers fearful that Pakistan is playing into the hands of religious conservatives who sympathize with the Taliban and al Qaeda.

The agreement was reached at talks between Islamists and officials of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government in Peshawar on Monday.

…

The move came as a suspected U.S. drone fired missiles at a building used by Taliban militants in the Kurram tribal region killing at least 26 people, witnesses and officials said.

The missiles hit a school that was once used by Afghan refugees’ children, before militants moved in around two years ago, according to villagers.

The attack was the first in Kurram on the border with Afghanistan and came two days after a missile strike in the South Waziristan tribal region killed at least 25 mostly Central Asian fighters believed to have al Qaeda links.

“Afghan Taliban were holding an important meeting there when the missiles were fired,” one of the intelligence officials in the area said of the air strike in a mountainous region called Sarpul, on the outskirts of Baggan village.

After Democrat Senator Feinstein (CA) publicized the fact the CIA drones were being flown out of Pakistan, I knew there would be some repercussions to the exposure. Pakistan has been, since the Musharraf days, working under the covers to assist America and themselves in eradicating the Taliban and al Qaeda cancer which had metastasized over decades in the region. The problem with the exposure of the operations by Feinstein meant Pakistan may not be able to host the operations anymore, and our forces in country were now at risk of being targeted.

One other aspect of this exposure may be a withdrawal of our Predator forces from Pakistan (and if we don’t have permission from Afghanistan, maybe even the region). If Feinstein did blow the cover of our Predator forces  to the point where they are now preparing to leave all this activity may be – sadly – our parting shots. We have pinned down and decimated al Qaeda and the Taliban using intelligence and these surgical strikes. The entire world has been kept safe by keeping these animals on the run.

If we let up, even for a month, before order is restored the backlash from the remnants could be quite violent. War is one of those things you don’t start unless you are prepared to go all the way and finish the job. So is surgery – which provides an interesting analogy if one thinks about it.

Update: More here

Update: Long War Journal has a lot more here.

Tags: Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, Pakistan, Predator, Taliban