U.S. Drone Didn't Kill a Taliban Peacemaker

The American drone strike that killed the Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud last week has apparently caused outrage in Islamabad and threatens a breach in relations between the two countries. It is claimed that this latest exercise of Washington’s military muscle has jeopardised a tentative peace process that Pakistan’s leaders were trying to put in place. But is this really the case? As the wars of Afghanistan and Pakistan begin to fade away, a dangerous delusion is taking their place: that a diplomatic solution acceptable both to the West and the Islamists is achievable. Mehsud, we should remember, was a brutal and effective guerrilla dedicated to imposing strict Islamic law in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the destruction of Western influence across the region. He was responsible for the deaths of thousands in his own country, including the lorry bomb that destroyed the Marriott hotel in Islamabad in 2008.