Both sovereign countries have remote, mountainous regions with fiercely independent groups of people. It is in these areas in Pakistan and Yemen that al-Qaida and other militants are hiding.
Dressler says he foresees Washington's use of unmanned aircraft to remain popular for years to come in these situations.
"It's sort of the option of last resort frankly," Dressler noted. "I mean, they're effective, but they're only effective to a point. They can't eradicate these threats. They can't really prevent these groups from operating. But they can make it more difficult for them to operate."
Several days after U.S. Special Forces shot and killed al-Qaida founder and leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, media reports said the United States launched a missile strike in Yemen targeting a radical U.S.-born cleric with al-Qaida links.
Authorities say Anwar al-Awlaki is a high-ranking member of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
The May 5 strike reportedly missed him, but is said to have killed two other suspected al-Qaida militants.
Katherine Zimmerman is an expert with the American Enterprise Institute on al-Qaida and its associated movements in the Gulf of Aden.
Zimmerman says she does not think these so-called successes in killing militants with unmanned aircraft justify relying on them in the fight against extremism.
"Drone strikes don't work," said Zimmerman. "We've seen that in Yemen before where al-Qaida was greatly and severely disabled when the U.S. took out its leadership in [the] early 2000s, but it was able to reemerge and reestablish itself."
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25