U.S. Search for Girls Disappoints Nigerians, Isnt It?

When Rev. Enoch Mark heard American drones were flying into Nigeria to find his two kidnapped daughters—among the 223 schoolgirls held hostage by Boko Haram—he thought his prayers for a speedy rescue might be answered. Two months later, he has lost faith.

As U.S. officials stitch together preliminary intelligence gleaned from the skies, the insurgency on the ground is rapidly seizing territory and eliminating Christians and Muslims who oppose it.

On Sunday, Boko Haram burned down a village called Kwaraglum near Chibok, the town where girls were abducted from their boarding school in April, said a local vigilante stationed nearby. That same day, they also struck another nearby town, Ndagu, said Simon Jasini, whose older brother was among 10 people killed in the raid. The group is suspected of a bombing on Tuesday that killed 14 people watching the World Cup in the city of Damaturu, said a resident who accompanied state officials to the hospital.

Back in Chibok, Rev. Mark and what family he has left head up a mountain each night so they can sleep hidden behind rocks.

"Boko Haram may attack at any time," he said.

The gap between the public perception of American air power and what can be actually delivered in short order is on display in this remote corner of northeast Nigeria.

People here and abroad cheered the arrival of U.S. drones in May, hoping they could find 223 girls scattered across hostile territory. The drone operation has yielded little public information as to the girls' whereabouts—or altered a lopsided battle between Boko Haram and Nigeria's military, which has ruled out a mass rescue.

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