"US strike just an opening salvo in much broader campaign against Taliban, Qaeda inside Pak"

Dera Ismail Khan (Pakistan), Sept 4 (ANI): Until now the US-led allied forces in Afghanistan had carried out occasional air-strikes and artillery attacks in the Pak-Afghan border areas against militants hiding there. But, last night's commando raid in Wana by the American forces signaled "opening of a salvo in a much broader campaign" by Special Operations forces against the Taliban and Al Qaeda inside Pakistan, said an article in the New York Times.

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This is a part of a secret plan that US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates had been advocating for months within Us President George Bush's war council.

The Wana raid also seemed likely to complicate relations with Pakistan, where the already unstable political situation worsened after the resignation last month of President Pervez Musharraf, a longtime American ally.

A senior American official, who had been briefed on the attack said that the raid was the beginning of stepping up the activity against militants in sanctuaries in the tribal areas along the Pak-Afghan border.

"What you're seeing is perhaps a stepping up of activity against militants in sanctuaries in the tribal areas that pose a direct threat to US forces and Afghan forces in Afghanistan," the paper quoted him as saying.

"There's potential to see more," added the unidentified US official.

Meanwhile, in a telephonic interview, Pakistani military spokesman General Abbas said that the soldiers from the International Security Assistance Force, which is made up of NATO and American forces, had created "new problems" for the Pakistani soldiers based along the border. He said that by killing civilians, "there was now a great risk of an uprising by the tribesmen" who supported the Pakistani soldiers in the border area.

The tribesmen, who oppose the Taliban and support the Pakistani forces, will now be extremely angry, he said, and added "Such actions are completely counterproductive and can result in huge losses, because it gives the civilians a cause to rise against the Pakistani military." (ANI)