The recent proliferation of drones has spawned intellectual debates on whether a country has the right under the Law of Armed Conflicts and international law to unilaterally deploy these remotely controlled aircrafts abroad for military purposes. The use of drones in support of combat operations – particularly striking distant terror operatives – has become the most controversial legal topic. Many of the most frequently expressed criticisms about drones and drone warfare do not hold up well under serious scrutiny or, at any rate, there's nothing uniquely different or worse about drones when compared to other military technologies. Consider the most common anti-drone argument: drones kill a disproportionate number of civilian noncombatants. However, drones kill fewer civilians, as a percentage of total fatalities, than any other military weapon. According to the UN's mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) 2012 report, the number of Afghan civilian casualties caused by the United States and its allies did not increase in 2012; in fact, they decreased by 46 percent. More specifically, civilian casualties from "aerial attacks" fell 42 percent. The UNAMA report found that drones released 506 weapons in 2012, compared to 294 from the previous year. Five incidents resulted in casualties with sixteen civilians killed and three wounded, up from just one incident in 2011. Even as drone attacks increased, the UN reported an overall decrease in civilian deaths by airstrikes with the US-led coalition implementing stricter measures to prevent innocent people from being killed. In another empirical report concerning drone strikes cited by The New York Times, 522 strikes have killed an estimated 3,376 militants and 476 civilians, decimating al-Qaida leadership even as the loss of innocent life intensifies anti-American sentiment in nations where strikes occur. Further, according to The Long War Journal, an estimated 801 militant deaths in Pakistan occurred from US drone strikes in 2010. This figure is significantly higher than the 195 drone-caused deaths occurring from 2004 to 2007.