USA drone strikes and its effects on Afghanistan and Pakistan's security

Following the terrorist attacks in 9/11, the Bush Administration declared global war on terrorism that was a multidimensional military campaign and the aim was to destroy Al-Qaeda and other affiliated group that was threaten the US as well as world security. As a result, the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001, in order to capture and kill high-level Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders including Osama Bin Laden, who was considered to be responsible for 9/11 attacks. The US invasion has forced key Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders to leave Afghanistan and settle in FATA (Federally Administrated Tribal Areas) in Pakistan. The stateless nature of FATA has facilitated Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants to reorganize, recover, reunite and form their ideal dominion. In order to kill top Al-Qaeda and Taliban members the Bush administration introduced drone campaign of target killing in FATA of Pakistan as well as in some parts of Afghanistan. In fact, the target killing campaign was not limited to Afghanistan and Pakistan; it encompassed other countries, such as Yemen, Somalia, Iraq and Libya. The US drone attacks have raised moral and legal issues by resulting in high levels of civilian casualties in targeted countries. This thesis claims that in some occasions drone attacks have violated international humanitarian laws (IHL) and international laws in Afghanistan in particular in Pakistan by causing legal, moral and sovereignty problems. Keywords: The US drone position under international laws.