ianstone
05-30-2010, 09:03 PM
Report: US weighs military option in Pakistan
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON: The US military is developing plans for a unilateral attack on the Pakistani Taleban in the event of a successful terrorist strike in the United States that can be traced to them, The Washington Post reports.
Planning for a retaliatory attack was spurred by ties between alleged Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad and elements of the Pakistani Taleban, the Post said in an article posted on its website Friday night, quoting unidentified senior military officials.
The military would focus on air and missile strikes but also could use small teams of US Special Operations troops currently along the border with Afghanistan, the Post said.
Airstrikes could damage the militants' ability to launch new attacks but also might damage US-Pakistani relations.
The CIA already conducts unmanned drone strikes in the country's tribal regions. Officials told the Post that a US military response would be considered only if a terrorist attacks persuaded President Barack Obama that the CIA campaign is ineffective.
A senior US official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Pakistan already has been told that it has only weeks to show real progress in a crackdown against the Taleban.
The US has put Pakistan "on a clock" to launch a new intelligence and counterterrorist offensive against the group, which the White House alleges was behind the Times Square bombing attempt, according to the official.
US officials also have said the US reserves the right to strike in the tribal areas in pursuit of Osama Bin Laden and other high-value targets.
At the same, the Obama administration is working to improve ties with Pakistani intelligence officials to head off attacks by militant groups, the Post reported.
Officials quoted by the Post and the AP requested anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding US military and intelligence activities in Pakistan.
Kill the Taliban not civilians, the CIA has to win the minds of Pakistanis
As a treat I left this readers comment below, enjoy
WAQASUDDIN AL-AMERICANI
May 31, 2010 02:10
Where's Pakistan's Ahmedinejad?! If Pakistan had an ambitious leadership, we would spread Islamic Revolution all through out central Asia (presumably after we had our own) and use the energy and ideology behind it to make a single nation stretching from the borders of Russia with an outlet to the Arabian Sea. This would be a huge country, five million square kilometers long with 270 million inhabitants and massive resources! They would use this opportunity to modernize (not moderate!) all the people living in the Federation of states, and it would be administered as a democracy. There would be a free flow of ideas, of commerce, of different peoples and cultures intermingling and over time creating a single community like we see in the U.S today. Culture and civilization would blossom, and the dreams and wishes of hundreds of millions of people to come together and thrive would become a reality. We would be free from all these tyrants, free from want and destitution, become happy and whole, and no power in the world would be able to push us around the way they do now and disrespect our religion and attack our sacred identity with impunity. Alas, it was but a beautiful dream. Now I'm awake and must deal with our horrible nightmare of a reality!
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON: The US military is developing plans for a unilateral attack on the Pakistani Taleban in the event of a successful terrorist strike in the United States that can be traced to them, The Washington Post reports.
Planning for a retaliatory attack was spurred by ties between alleged Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad and elements of the Pakistani Taleban, the Post said in an article posted on its website Friday night, quoting unidentified senior military officials.
The military would focus on air and missile strikes but also could use small teams of US Special Operations troops currently along the border with Afghanistan, the Post said.
Airstrikes could damage the militants' ability to launch new attacks but also might damage US-Pakistani relations.
The CIA already conducts unmanned drone strikes in the country's tribal regions. Officials told the Post that a US military response would be considered only if a terrorist attacks persuaded President Barack Obama that the CIA campaign is ineffective.
A senior US official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Pakistan already has been told that it has only weeks to show real progress in a crackdown against the Taleban.
The US has put Pakistan "on a clock" to launch a new intelligence and counterterrorist offensive against the group, which the White House alleges was behind the Times Square bombing attempt, according to the official.
US officials also have said the US reserves the right to strike in the tribal areas in pursuit of Osama Bin Laden and other high-value targets.
At the same, the Obama administration is working to improve ties with Pakistani intelligence officials to head off attacks by militant groups, the Post reported.
Officials quoted by the Post and the AP requested anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding US military and intelligence activities in Pakistan.
Kill the Taliban not civilians, the CIA has to win the minds of Pakistanis
As a treat I left this readers comment below, enjoy
WAQASUDDIN AL-AMERICANI
May 31, 2010 02:10
Where's Pakistan's Ahmedinejad?! If Pakistan had an ambitious leadership, we would spread Islamic Revolution all through out central Asia (presumably after we had our own) and use the energy and ideology behind it to make a single nation stretching from the borders of Russia with an outlet to the Arabian Sea. This would be a huge country, five million square kilometers long with 270 million inhabitants and massive resources! They would use this opportunity to modernize (not moderate!) all the people living in the Federation of states, and it would be administered as a democracy. There would be a free flow of ideas, of commerce, of different peoples and cultures intermingling and over time creating a single community like we see in the U.S today. Culture and civilization would blossom, and the dreams and wishes of hundreds of millions of people to come together and thrive would become a reality. We would be free from all these tyrants, free from want and destitution, become happy and whole, and no power in the world would be able to push us around the way they do now and disrespect our religion and attack our sacred identity with impunity. Alas, it was but a beautiful dream. Now I'm awake and must deal with our horrible nightmare of a reality!