The Times Online (U.K.)

... According to Katherine Tiedemann, a policy analyst on counter-terrorism strategy at the New American Foundation think-tank in Washington, part of the reason for this was that al-Qaeda had retreated to urban compounds to make it more difficult for armed drones to attack them. ... Original Article

Few tears will be shed for Baitullah Mehsud,except among the Taleban militants. He took responsibility for the slaughter of hundreds of ordinary Pakistanis, quite apart from attacks on the army and police. But the Pakistani public will take some convincing that he really is dead. Pakistanis tend to treat most US statements as automatically false, and are sceptical about the claims of their own Government. Many, too, believe in feverish conspiracy theories that attribute terrorism, not to the Taleban,… more

“I think he was going through the motions,” said Steven Clemons, a foreign policy expert at the New America Foundation in Washington. Gates was obliged to appeal to America’s allies to help with more “soft power” projects such as rebuilding roads, ...