As Alexander was troubled by the hydra-like nature of his Afghan
opponents so today is NATO. The Taliban’s leadership has been pursued
continuously and ever more intensely since the start of the conflict in
2001, and is now being killed, according to senior American and British
commanders, ‘on an industrial scale’.
2 Twelve thousand insurgents were
reportedly killed or captured by Special Forces in ‘night raids’ targeting
named individuals in the 12 months to May 2011 while there were 350
night raids in the first four months of 2012 alone.3 Coalition air forces have
also increased targeted killing, though statistics are publically unavailable.4
CIA‘drone strikes’ in Pakistan, aimed at the killing of members of Al-Qaeda
and related groups, are better documented and have increased significantly
since 2008. The US began such strikes in 2004 and conducted only 10 until
2008; there were over 100 in 2010, 72 in 2011 and 43 to date in 2012.5
Under both programmes, individuals are listed in advance and killed or
captured when possible. British Special Forces have been in the forefront of
targeted killing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, and British ‘drones’ are
now deployed in Afghanistan to the same end.6 Insurgent and terrorist cells
are being relentlessly ‘decapitated’ by targeted strikes, but the hydra-like
insurgency is now active over a wider area and the insurgents more
numerous than ever.7 The question then, is does targeted killing work?