The US government has finally expanded its covert war in Pakistan to include Baitullah Mehsud's Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan among its targets, The New York Times claimed on Friday.He wasn't before? Why?
The Times, a day late and a dollar short as always ...
The paper said two missile strikes on training camps run by Mehsud represented a broadening of the US campaign. Under President George W Bush, the United States frequently attacked militants from Al Qaeda and the Taliban involved in cross-border attacks into Afghanistan but stopped short of raids aimed at Mehsud and his followers, who have played less of a direct role in attacks on US troops.
But last year Mehsud was identified by the US as well as Pakistani officials as the man who had orchestrated the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Bush then included Mehsud's name in a classified list of Taliban leaders the CIA and US commandos were authorised to capture or kill.
The paper said Pakistani military and intelligence officials have complained "for months" about the US refusal to strike at Mehsud. According to a senior Pakistani official, Pakistan's intelligence services twice in recent months gave the United States detailed intelligence about Mehsud's location, but, he said, the United States did not act on the information. Bush administration officials had said it was the Pakistanis who were reluctant to take on Mehsud and his network. Special US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke and the White House declined comment on Mehsud or the new strikes.