We cannot win the hearts and minds of either the people of Pakistan or the people of Afghanistan by killing the children of those countries. We know from experience that when we do that, we increase the number of people we then have to fight, rather than reducing their number. This is something we know from experience, and we have also been told by the government of Afghanistan, and now also Pakistan.

Our killing the children of those places is the best recruiting tool groups like the Taliban and al Qaeda have. Battling us only wins the hearts and minds of previously non-extremist people if those people feel that they have a legitimate grievance with us. Without that sense of grievance, the Taliban and al Qaeda have nothing whatever to work with. In the meantime, if they are blowing up schools and killing innocents themselves, they can't really be said to be trying to win hearts and minds, now, can they? Obviously not. If that is what they are doing, then they are attempting to rule through fear. That way of doing things works for them to a very limited degree, but we have seen that when al Qaeda pisses off enough people, they don't receive the assistance they need to continue to operate.

When we kill children, we make al Qaeda stronger. When they kill children, if we are not also doing the same, al Qaeda becomes weaker.