Taliban warlord Mullah Nazir was sent to his reward today by a pair of Hellfire missiles fired from a US Predator drone.
According to US military sources this is a critical blow against the Taliban infrastructure in the so-called tribal areas of Waziristan. According to Pakistani military sources it is nothing of the sort. Nazir's group has honoured a truce with the Islamabad government since 2007 and confined it's activities to Afghanistan.
As for the argument that losing a leader incapacitates these groups, Pakistan media report that a replacement, Bawad Khan, was elected shortly after Nazir's funeral, which drew crowds estimated in the thousands.
While the US was busy making a martyr of Mullah Nazir, they also struck at one of his rival groups, killing a TTP commander in North Waziristan with the oh-so-clever "double-tap" strategy. According to Dawn, "the US targeted a vehicle with two missiles, then fired two more missiles when rescuers gathered at the site."
So it was a busy day for America's heroic drone wars in Pakistan's tribal areas. The success of these missions left a vacuum in Taliban leadership ranks that was measured in hours if not minutes.
And not that many folks in the tribal areas need a reminder, but it will have reinforced the belief that America is a nation of lawless barbarians and will no doubt bring many new recruits to the Taliban.
Ten militants killed.
A thousand more recruits for the Taliban.
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