Obama pointing to a student for a question during the Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative town hall meeting at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur April 27, 2014.
(CNN) — A year ago, President Obama delivered a speech at the National Defense University in Washington in which he made the case that it was time to wind down the “boundless global war on terror ” and “perpetual wartime footing” that has been a feature of American life since 9/11.
Indeed, the CIA drone program in Pakistan has stopped completely since the beginning of this year. This is a noteworthy development given the fact that there have been 370 drone strikes in Pakistan over the past decade that have killed somewhere between 2,080 to 3,428 people; most of whom were suspected militants, but also a smaller number of civilians.
In his speech the President made the case that al Qaeda, which carried out the 9/11 attacks, “is on the path to defeat. Their remaining operatives spend more time thinking about their own safety than plotting against us.”
Obama outlined the remaining terrorism threat as coming from “less capable al Qaeda affiliates” who are certainly threats to American diplomatic facilities and businesses abroad, as well from “homegrown extremists,” like those who bombed the Boston Marathon a little over a year ago.
Categories: Americas, Pakistan, United States