Expand military campaign against Taliban-US to Pakistan

WASHINGTON:

The Obama administration is stepping up pressure on Pakistan to expand and reorient its fight against Taliban and al-Qaida and wants its army to pursue the militants into north Waziristan.

Washington has also warned that failure to do so would undercut new strategy and troop increase for Afghanistan that President Obama is preparing to approve of, The New York times reported quoting US officials.

This message was delivered by General (retd) James Jones, the National Security Advisor; who was sent to Islamabad by the US President, Barack Obama, and delivered a letter on his behalf to the Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari.

"His message, officials said, was that the new American strategy would work only if Pakistan broadened its fight beyond the militants attacking its cities and security forces and went after the groups that use havens in Pakistan for plotting and carrying out attacks against American troops in Afghanistan, as well as support networks for Al Qaeda," the paper said.

Times said Jones while praising the Pakistani operation in South Waziristan had urged officials to combat extremists who fled to North Waziristan.

According to the newspaper, if Pakistanis voice concerns about a lack of American commitment, they express equal concern that sending tens of thousands more American troops to Afghanistan could force Taliban militants into Pakistan.

"Whatever we do - put in more troops or put in fewer troops -- they'll freak out," an American intelligence officer who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing his relations with Pakistani officials, told The New York Times.

For their part, Pakistani officials have told Americans that they harbour two deep fears about Obama's new strategy: that the US will have too many troops on the Afghan side of the border and that the American effort will end too soon.

It is a concern that some of them say justifies Pakistan's continuing ties to the militants who fight American troops in Afghanistan.

Car Bomber Strikes Outside the US base

KABUL:

A suicide car bomber struck a convoy of civilian vehicles outside a US military base in Kabul early on Friday, wounding three Afghans and causing several casualties among foreigners, police said. The head of criminal investigations for Kabul police, Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, said 3-4 foreign casualties had been taken from the scene by Western troops, but he could give no details of the extent of their wounds.

A damaged white civilian vehicle could be seen at the debris-strewn blast site on a main road about 100 metres (yards) from Camp Phoenix, a large US military base also used by troops from other NATO countries near the airport. Witnesses said a second civilian vehicle that was destroyed in the blast had been removed, while US troops in armoured vehicles blocked off the site.

"We were having breakfast when we heard a huge bang. All the glass was shattered," said Abdul Jamil, a worker at a petrol station across the street from the site. He said he believed several foreigners had been killed inside the vehicle that had ben destroyed. Sgt. Kevin Bell, a spokesman for the US and NATO-led forces, confirmed a blast but gave no further details. Violence in Afghanistan this year has reached the worst levels of the eight-year-old war, and militants have staged a number of attacks in the capital in recent months.