Washington: As the US announced deepening of
its involvement in Afghanistan by despatching 30,000 more
troops, President Barack Obama has quietly authorised an
expansion of war against terrorism in Pakistan under which CIA
would widen its campaign of strikes against militants by
unmanned drones.
The expanded operations by the CIA could include drone
strikes in the southern province of Baluchistan, where senior
Afghan Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding, New York
Times reported today quoting officials.
CIA has submitted its plan to widen its campaign in
Pakistan to the White House and has asked for commitment to
jack up the agency's budget for operations inside the country.
CIA also wants to send more spies into the terrorist
infested areas in Pakistan's tribal belt to try to infiltrate
into groups like Taliban and other foreign militant groups.
But the Times said, Obama Administration was aware that
any expansion of overt American presence in Pakistan could
fuel anti-Americanism in a country that fears that US is
plotting to run its government and seize its nuclear weapons.
So, the paper said Obama officials were working to get a
weak, divided and suspicious Pakistani government to agree to
the terms.
New York Times quoting US officials said that authorising
drone strikes in Baluchistan was also planned as Americans
believe that it is from there that top Taliban leaders direct
many of the attacks on their troops in Afghanistan and that
these are likely to increase as more US troops pour into the
country.
The President endorsed intensification of the campaign
against the al Qaeda and its violent allies including even
more operations targeting terrorist safe havens.
This message was delivered recently to Pakistani leaders
and officials by General James Jones, the National Security
Adviser. But the Pakistanis suspicious of Obama's intension
have not yet agreed.
In his address to the cadets at the West Point Academy,
the US President said that the murky border areas between
Afghanistan and Pakistan offers refuge to extremists of many
strifes.
Obama identified the region as the birthplace of the
September 11, 2001 attacks and said it was from here that new
attacks are being plotted.
The stakes are much higher now, Obama said as al Qaeda and
other extremist groups were seeking nuclear weapons and "we
have every reason to believe that they would use them.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 02, 2009, 16:17