Pakistan: US Officials Working to Sway Hearts and Minds in Islamabad

US officials are developing a new communications strategy in order to reduce tension stoked by drone air strikes in Pakistan.

The United States relies heavily on unmanned aircraft strikes to kill Taliban and other radical Islamic elements in remote areas near the Afghanistan border. A recent report by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) describes drone strikes as "currently the United States's primary method of combating violent extremism in northwestern Pakistan."

But Pakistanis, both government officials and ordinary residents in the conflict zone, are critical of the drone attacks, saying they create an excessively high number of civilian casualties. Pakistani sources claim that since 2006, drone attacks have killed 14 militants and over 700 Pakistani civilians. US officials dispute those numbers, but say the US military's data is classified.

Aiming to bolster Pakistani understanding of US tactics, US officials are planning to expand public relations initiatives in Pakistan, according to Paul Jones, deputy special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia.

Jones, testifying before at a recent US congressional hearing, was asked by Senator Daniel Akaka, a Democrat from Hawaii, about the drone controversy. Jones said that he could not discuss the drones' successes in a public hearing. But, he added, "a very important part of our strategy is strategic communications." He went on to say that in the PR sphere, "we're making some progress."

The United States plans to "increase quite significantly" aid to Pakistan to help the government with its own communications strategy, Jones said. That includes distributing radios to Pakistanis in the tribal areas and helping the government of Pakistan with public service announcements. Such programs "will help people understand what the goals are of the Pakistani government and the international community, and how they are helping the country of Pakistan," he said.

Some experts assert that the Pentagon is relying too heavily on drone attacks, but a better information strategy could help ease existing problems. "Drone strikes excite visceral opposition across a broad spectrum of Pakistani opinion. The persistence of these attacks on Pakistani territory offends people's deepest sensibilities, alienates them from their government, and contributes to Pakistan's instability," said Nathaniel Fick, the chief executive officer of CNAS, who also testified at the hearing. "Currently, strikes from unmanned aircraft are being carried out in a virtual vacuum, without a concerted information operations campaign or an equally robust strategy to engage the Pakistani people."

Another hearing participant, Carl Levin, a Democratic senator from Michigan who is the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, suggested that Washington was being hamstrung by Pakistani government officials' frequent criticism of the drone strikes. "For them to look the other way, or to give us the green light privately, and then to attack us publicly leaves us, it seems to me, at a very severe disadvantage and loss with the Pakistani people," Levin said.

Beyond bolstering its information campaign, the United States is providing some forms of military assistance. In June, for example, the United States gave Pakistan four Mi-17 utility helicopters. "The additional helicopters are meant to enhance Pakistan's capabilities in current operations against militant extremists, and its efforts to care for hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis who have been displaced from their homes by the fighting," the US Embassy in Islamabad said in a statement. Jones said that the U.S. was providing an additional two helicopters later this month and then an additional two some time after that.

The United States also intends to significantly boost non-military aid to Pakistan; legislation currently in Congress would triple non-military aid to $1.5 billion per year over the next five years. Washington has also pledged $381 million to help internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Pakistan. Of that amount, $164 million has already been distributed.

Because of the sensitivity of the US presence in Pakistan, US officials are willing to let the Pakistani government take credit for supplying the assistance to IDPs, Jones said. "To counter the attempts by extremists to influence displaced persons, it's very important for the displaced persons to see that their own government is actually providing assistance," he said.