Top US intelligence officials made secret trip

Washington: The top two US intelligence officials made a secret visit to Pakistan in early January to seek permission from President Pervez Musharraf for greater involvement of American forces in trying to ferret out Al Qaida and other militant groups active in the tribal regions along the Afghanistan border, a senior US official said.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity given the secret nature of the talks, declined to disclose what was said, but Musharraf was quoted two days after the January 9 meeting as saying US troops would be regarded as invaders if they crossed into Pakistan to hunt Al Qaida militants.

The New York Times - which first reported on the secret visit by CIA Director Michael Hayden and Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence - said Musharraf rebuffed an expansion of an American presence in Pakistan at the meeting, either through overt CIA missions or by joint operations with Pakistani security forces.

Pakistan has been under growing US pressure to crack down on militants in its tribal regions close to the Afghan border, a rugged area long considered a likely hiding place for Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman Al Zawahiri, as well as an operating ground for Taliban militants planning attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Several US presidential candidates have hinted they would support unilateral action in the area.

In a January 11 interview, Musharraf told The Straits Times of Singapore that US troops would "certainly" be considered invaders if they set foot in the tribal regions.

"If they come without our permission, that's against the sovereignty of Pakistan," he said. "I challenge anybody coming into our mountains. They would regret that day." South Waziristan is a semiautonomous region where the central government has never had much control. It is home to scores of Al Qaida and Taliban fighters, many of whom fled there from neighbouring Afghanistan after the US-led invasion in 2001.

The border region emerged as a front line in the war on extremist groups after Musharraf allied Pakistan with the US following the September 11 terror attacks. Musharraf, who toured Europe last week seeking support for his embattled government, rejected claims the violence was a sign of a resurgent Taliban. More than 150 rebels and soldiers are reported to have been killed in the region this month alone.

Musharraf in the past has credited cooperation between intelligence services and the CIA, both of whom believe that Pakistani militant leader Baitullah Mehsud was the mastermind of the December 27 gun and suicide bomb attack that killed former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Key Taliban leaders in Pakistan

Baitullah Mehsud: Head of the newly formed Taliban Movement of Pakistan. Named as the man behind the December 27 assassination of Benazir Bhutto. He fought in Afghanistan against the Soviets in 1980s.

Maulvi Fazlullah: Commander in the Taliban Movement of Pakistan, uses an illegal FM radio station in Swat Valley. Followers have burned down CD shops, girls' schools and launched dozens of suicide attacks.

Faqir Mohammad: Based in northwestern Bajour Agency, he is considered a close ally of Al Qaida's Ayman Al Zawahiri. Sent hundreds of young men to fight in Afghanistan, implicated in suicide attacks.

Sadiq Noor: Powerful leader in North Waziristan, where followers have battled Pakistan's military and provided assistance to the Afghan Taliban across the border.

Maulvi Gul Bahadar: The leader behind the deeply flawed September 2006 agreement with the Pakistan military that gave breathing space for the burgeoning Pakistani Taliban. Based in North Waziristan.