CIA analysis : ‘high-value targeting’ had limited effect against Taliban

CIA Review of High-Value Target Assassination Programs
►https://wikileaks.org/cia-hvt-counterinsurgency/press-release.html

In its key findings, the report warns of the negative consequences of assassinating so-called High Level Targets (HLT), a prediction that has been proven right. “The potential negative effect of HLT operations include increasing the level of insurgent support […], strengthening an armed group’s bonds with the population, radicalizing an insurgent group’s remaining leaders, creating a vacuum into which more radical groups can enter, and escalating or de-escalating a conflict in ways that favor the insurgents.”

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Assassinations by drone strike escalated to an all-time high a year after the CIA report was written . According to findings by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 751 people were killed in drone strikes that year, compared with 471 in 2009 and 363 in 2011.

#étrangetés

Obama escalated US drones despite CIA document arguing strikes ineffective and risky
▻http://www.reprieve.org/obama-escalated-us-drones-despite-cia-document-arguing-strikes-ineffective

A report – from July 2009 - leaked yesterday, has revealed that the CIA warned that covert US drone strikes were not successfully targeting the Taliban and instead often killing unintended targets. After this report was published, President Obama escalated the covert drone programme. US drones have killed thousands of people in Yemen and Pakistan – both countries with which the US is not at war.