"This attack will be avenged through successful, aggressive counterterrorism operations," said one intelligence officer to CNN, referring to the recent murder of a number of CIA officers and several contractors at the vest of a suicide bomber.
The attack took place in Khost province across the border from North Waziristan. This is Haqqani country, a faction of the Pashtun Taliban that claims allegiance to Mullah Omar but operates mostly on its own. The Haqqani network is very much allied to Al Qaeda.
Since the bombing the CIA has already begun striking back across the border.
There have been two drone strikes in as many days.(BBC, Dawn)
The first attack struck a "safehouse" east of North Waziristan's main town in a village called Machikhel. That attack reportedly killed three or four. Some "officials" according to Dawn, either Pakistani or American, suggested that Al Qaeda operatives are amongst the dead from that attack. Tough to confirm that, of course.
The next morning, while many Americans were still partying, another drone struck a vehicle in the village of Ghundikala about 10 kilometers west of the first attack. Three militants are reported dead according to a security official.
"We saw a vehicle engulfed in flames after the missile strike," a local tribesman in the area told AFP by phone on condition of anonymity.
"It was difficult to go close to the vehicle as it was surrounded by militants, who later removed dead bodies from the wreckage."
With the coming escalation on the Afghan side of the border, and hopefully the continued-offensives on the Pakistani side on the areas surrounding North Waziristan, things are going to heat up. The CIA will be very much at the forefront, as demonstrated by the recent bombing in Khost province. If you haven't read the recent New York Times story regarding this, I recommend that you do if you are at all interested in the events taking place along the border region. Those events are likely to grow all the more bloody in this new year of 2010.