Attacks against al Qaeda in Pakistan having an impact

NY Times:

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A senior administration official said the increased airstrikes by remotely piloted Central Intelligence Agency Predator aircraft, as well as the ground raid on Sept. 3, were having some impact on Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who are using the tribal areas as a sanctuary.

“The people on the ground realize that the safety they’d grown accustomed to wasn’t so safe,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the continuing operations. “It puts them on the move. It has them talking on their networks. They may devote more manpower to posting guards and sentries. They move around and move away from the border, and don’t stay in one location as long.”

Admiral Mullen praised recent Pakistani Army operations against militants in Bajaur and Swat, and the recent leadership shake-up in Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. But he expressed concern that Pakistan’s domestic financial crisis, with increasing fuel and food costs, could hamper the government’s ability to stage and finance sustained and effective counterterrorism operations.

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This was buried in an otherwise pre election gloomy report that seems typical for this point in an election cycle. This type of gloomy reporting was typical of the Iraq stories before the 2006 election and was intended to help Democrat candidates and probably did. With Iraq having mare good news than bad the pre election gloom stories this year have focused on Afghanistan.

The quoted paragraphs show there is reason for something besides gloom with respect to this war. We do need more troops there now since the enemy has switched many of its resources from Iraq after losing there to Afghanistan. We also need to make the Afghan Army much bigger as well as develop local militias that can stand up to the Taliban. If Pakistan can sustain its efforts against the enemy sanctuaries it will give the Afghans some breathing room to get control of more of the country.

I believe we need to take more forceful action against the poppy farmers. They should be given a choice of growing food crops with a guaranteed price or having their poppy crops destroyed. It is absurd that a country that is chronically short of food is growing dope.