Quietly, Pakistan Wages a Deadly Drone Campaign Inside Its Own Borders

In the brief but pitched military clash between Pakistan and India last month, the skies swarmed with waves of cutting-edge drones, signaling a shift from traditional border skirmishes to high-tech showdowns.

But for years, a far more covert and deadly drone campaign has been playing out within Pakistan’s own borders.

As the country’s internal security deteriorates amid rising Islamist militancy and a bloody separatist insurgency, Pakistani officials have increasingly turned to drones to monitor and strike militants, especially those operating in remote areas near Afghanistan.

The Pakistani government has not officially acknowledged the role of drones in its counterinsurgency playbook, in part because the issue is politically sensitive.

For years, the U.S. government conducted drone strikes inside Pakistan that targeted Al Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban and affiliated groups but also killed significant numbers of civilians. While Pakistan heavily criticized the Americans over the attacks, it has now adopted their tactic.

And as with the U.S. strikes, civilian deaths have been repeatedly reported during Pakistan’s current campaign. Although Pakistani security officials have privately insisted that drone operations have become significantly more effective and precise, the collateral damage reported in some attacks risks radicalizing more Pakistanis against the government.