U.S. drone attacks from Afghanistan to end after 2014: FM

[The Northerner]

(Reuters) - Foreign Minister Zalmay Rasool said on Thursday Afghanistan would not be used as a launch pad for U.S. drones attacks on neighboring countries after NATO combat forces leave by the end of 2014.

"Afghan soil will not be used against any country in the region," Rasool told Al Jazeera television when asked if Washington would be allowed to launch drone strikes against Pakistan after the troops' withdrawal.

U.S.-operated drones have repeatedly carried out deadly missile strikes against suspected al Qaeda targets in Pakistan.

"The presence of the remaining forces in Afghanistan is for training, equipping and securing Afghanistan's security. It has been mentioned, it is going to be mentioned, that this force is not for use against any neighbors in the region," Rasool told the Doha-based channel.

Rasool was in Qatar for talks over the opening of Taliban office in Doha.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/05/us-afghanistan-drone-attacks-idUSBRE83410U20120405

Why should they end after 2014? How about NOW!?

Is it acceptable for more innocent civilians to die until the drone strikes supposedly end after 2014?

[sad sally]

1. Remember the President has assured us that the "drone campaigns" only target people

who are active terrorists (or family members, or neighbors, or someone who passed them on the street, or happened to be in the neighborhood where the terrorist was), and that it "has not caused a huge number of civilian casualties."

In other words, a small to moderate number of innocent civilians who are killed by drone attacks are okay. Here's what seems to be an okay number of civilians murdered by drone strikes: Since Obama took office in 2009, “between 282 and 535 civilians have been credibly reported as killed, including more than 60 children,” writes Chris Woods of the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism. “A three-month investigation including eyewitness reports has found evidence that at least 50 civilians were killed in follow-up [drone] strikes when they had gone to help victims. More than 20 civilians have also been attacked in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners.”