TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Bush OK'd Orders For U.S. Raids In Pakistan

ADVERTISEMENT

The New York Times

Published: September 11, 2008

WASHINGTON - President Bush secretly approved orders in July that for the first time allow American Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without prior approval of the Pakistani government, according to senior American officials.

The classified orders mark a watershed for the Bush administration after nearly seven years of trying to work with Pakistan to combat al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, and after months of high-level stalemate about how to confront the militants' increasingly secure base in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

The new strategy comes to light seven years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
American officials say they will notify Pakistan when they conduct limited ground attacks like the Special Operations raid Sept. 3 in a Pakistani village near the Afghanistan border, but will not ask for its permission.

"The situation in the tribal areas is not tolerable," said a senior American official, who, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the missions. "We have to be more assertive. Orders have been issued."

The new orders reflect concern about safe havens for al-Qaida and the Taliban inside Pakistan, as well as an American view that Pakistan lacks the will and capability to combat militants.

They also illustrate lingering American distrust of the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies and a belief that some past American operations have been compromised once Pakistanis were advised of the details.

The Central Intelligence Agency has for several years fired missiles at militants inside Pakistan from remotely piloted Predator aircraft.

But the new orders for the military's Special Operations forces relax what until now have been firm restrictions on conducting ground raids on the soil of an important ally without its permission.

Pakistan's top army officer said Wednesday that his forces would not tolerate American incursions like the one that took place last week and that the army would defend the country's sovereignty "at all costs."

It was unclear precisely what legal authorities the United States has invoked to conduct even limited ground raids in a friendly country.

A second senior American official said the Pakistani government had privately assented to the general concept of limited ground assaults by Special Operations forces against significant militant targets, but does not approve each mission.

The official did not say which members of the government gave their approval.

Any new ground operations in Pakistan raise the prospect of American forces being killed or captured in the restive tribal areas - and a propaganda coup for al-Qaida.

Last week's raid also presents a major test for Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari, who supports more aggressive action by his army against the militants but cannot risk being viewed as an American lap dog, as was his predecessor, Pervez Musharraf.

Details about the Sept. 3 commando operation have emerged that indicate the mission was more intrusive than previously known.

According to two American officials briefed on the raid, it involved more than two dozen Navy Seals who spent several hours on the ground and killed about two dozen suspected al-Qaida fighters in what now appears to have been a preplanned attack against militants who had been conducting attacks against a U.S. forward operating base across the border in Afghanistan.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT