At the time of the release, 134 drone attacks had been conducted.
A study published in February 2010 by Peter Bergen and Katherin Tiedemann on behalf of the New America Foundation detailed US drone strikes in Pakistan from 2004-2010. The study found "114 reported drone strikes in northwest Pakistan from 2004 to the present have killed between 830 and 1,210 individuals, of whom around 550 to 850 were described as militants in reliable press accounts." This means the "true civilian fatality rate since 2004" was 32 percent.
The study concluded "US drone strikes don't seem to have had any great effect on the Taliban's ability to mount operations in Pakistan or Afghanistan or to deter potential Western recruits, and they no longer have the element of surprise." And, "their unpopularity with the Pakistani public and their value as a recruiting tool for extremist groups may have ultimately increased the appeal of the Taliban and al Qaeda, undermining the Pakistani state. This is more disturbing than almost anything that could happen in Afghanistan, given that Pakistan has dozens of nuclear weapons and about six times the population.
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