US reportedly pushing to expand air attacks in Pakistan

Nov 20, 2010, 8:27 GMT

Islamabad - The US government is pressuring Pakistan to expand the areas where unmanned aircraft can conduct missile attacks on suspected hideouts of Taliban and al-Qaeda militants, a report in the Washington Post said Saturday.

The drone strikes are currently focused on sanctuaries of Islamist insurgents in the north-western tribal region near the Afghan border. The prime target has been the Taliban's Haqqani network that is said to be responsible for dozens of attacks on NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan.

The newspaper quoted intelligence officials as saying the US military wants to expand the drone campaign to the south-western province of Baluchistan, particularly near the provincial capital Quetta.

But Pakistan has rejected the request, officials told the newspaper. Instead, Islamabad has agreed to more modest measures including an expanded CIA presence in Quetta, and joint intelligence actions to locate and capture senior Taliban leaders.

Baluchistan shares a long border with the Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, the home of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar and forms the centre of the insurgency in Afghanistan.

US officials claim that Quetta functions not only as a sanctuary for Taliban leaders but also as a base for sending money, recruits and explosives to rebels inside Afghanistan, the paper reported.

'If they understand our side, they know the patience is running out,' a senior NATO military official said.

Pakistan has officially protested against the drone strikes but is widely believed to tolerate the attacks under an arrangement with Washington to limit them to lawless tribal areas.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman denied the Washington Post report on Saturday, saying there was no such pressure to expand drone attacks to Baluchistan.

'I don't think it's a very credible report,' Abdul Basit said.

Basit said Pakistan had repeatedly condemned the airstrikes and made clear to the US that its security forces had the capability to take action against militants on its soil.

'There are definitely gaps in intelligence sharing between the two countries. We have said again and again that they should share real time intelligence with us so that our agencies, our forces can take action,' Basit said.

'If these gaps are filled in, I don't think our forces won't take action against militants,' he added.

The US has in recent months ramped up drone attacks in tribal regions. More than 100 strikes this year have reportedly killed dozens of alleged Taliban and al-Qaeda members.

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