According to independent estimates a total of 118 CIA drone attacks on Pakistan killed only two terrorists on the US ‘most-wanted’ list.

The CIA spent over $1 million per drone attack. The high cost and high number of attacks proved quite fruitless given the result – two highly sought terrorists killed.

The National Counterterrorism Center said the two who were killed were Sheik Saeed al-Masri, a top Al-Qaeda operative, and Ahmed Mohammed Hamed Ali, who was part of the attacks on US embassies in 1998.

Thirteen others killed were high value targets and another 581 were low-level. A senior Pakistani official referred to the vast majority of targets as “mere foot soldiers” who had no influence or power.

The US military however contended the program has been successful and has disrupted the operational capacity of al-Qaeda.

Nevertheless, the numbers bring about important questions on the efficiency, costs and benefits of such operations.