Although the purpose of this strategy is to decrease terrorist activities by targeting militant groups including the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, it seems to be doing just the opposite. Collateral damage resulting from the attacks creates nothing but support for militant groups who use civilian deaths as leverage to garner sympathy from the people of northwestern Pakistan, particularly in the tribal areas of Waziristan, a region that the central Pakistani government has little control over. 

With an estimated 3,148 Pakistanis killed in drone attacks since 2004 (less than 2 percent of those killed are high profile militant targets), anger towards the United States is growing not only among militant hard liners but among ordinary Pakistani citizens. Those primarily affected by drone strikes in northwestern Pakistan are in the most defenseless position in the country. 

Largely ignored by Pakistan’s federal government, regional institutions have failed to address the problems of the area’s residents. Already facing staggering rates of poverty and unemployment, young men in northwestern Pakistan are much more susceptible to recruitment from militant hard liners who capitalize on their vulnerability. Add relatives and friends being killed in drone strikes to a lack of economic opportunity, and you have a recipe for disaster. 

Interestingly enough, San Diego has been called the drone manufacturing capital of the world with UCSD providing research and development for drones used in places where the United States has not declared war including Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. 

The precision myth of drones has come under much scrutiny as of late and the United Nations has recently denounced U.S. drone use in Pakistan. With hundreds of Pakistani civilians being killed and opposition to the U.S. growing, I am prompted to ask — who exactly are drones keeping safe?

— Zainab Badi
Junior, Sixth College
Director of Civil and Human Rights, Student Sustainability Collective