Did Drones Contribute to Yemen's Collapse?

A U.S. drone strike hit a vehicle in central Yemen on Monday, killing three members of al-Qaida according to a representative of the group. The strike was the first since Yemen’s U.S.-backed government collapsed last week, in what’s been widely seen as a major setback for efforts to combat the powerful al-Qaida affiliate that took credit for the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

But what if the drones themselves are part of the problem? It’s not unreasonable to ask whether U.S. attacks in the past six years, and particularly the civilian casualties they have caused, helped to hasten the Yemeni government’s fall, contributing to the headache now confronting U.S. counterterrorism efforts.