Pentagon officials consider increase in cross-border commando missions

Washington: With angry protests spreading in Pakistan, Pentagon officials said that the number of cross-border commando missions might grow in coming months to counter increasing violence in Afghanistan.

The developments threatened to aggravate US-Pakistani tensions just before Saturday's presidential election, in which attitudes toward the US might be a key issue.

The raid and its aftermath also fanned a longstanding debate within the Bush administration over how to deal with militants in Pakistan.

Assault

Pakistani officials said US troops were ferried into South Waziristan by helicopter in the Wednesday raid and that as many as 20 people were killed, many thought to be civilians.

The White House, State Department and Pentagon all moved to clamp down on administration discussion of the assault, but government officials confirmed the broad details disclosed by the Pakistani government.

US military officials insisted that there was no new policy in place authorising an increase of raids into Pakistan. But pressure has been building within the military for more aggressive use of existing practices as US casualties have increased along with the number of attacks carried out in Afghanistan by militants who are based in Pakistan.

"You can't allow a haven," said a military officer, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity when discussing the raid. "You have to get to the areas that they rest, relax and train."

Within the Pentagon and among military officers in the region, many are sceptical about the value of increased US operations in Pakistan. These officials believe that stepped-up operations risk a backlash in Pakistan and that a better approach is to press the Pakistani military to take on the extremists.

In Pakistan, parliament passed a resolution condemning the raid Thursday, a day after the government lodged a diplomatic protest with the US ambassador.

The frequency of US raids might depend on the Pakistanis' reactions. US officials are monitoring the public response and the private reaction from leaders of the fledgling Pakistani government. Some military officials considered the initial Pakistani response relatively restrained, although protests built into the day.

Volatile situation

Military officials said that the US used existing authorities who negotiated with former President Pervez Musharraf to launch the raid. A senior military official said the volatile political situation has prevented any new negotiations for US operations inside Pakistan.

The US has long reserved the right to cross the border in "hot pursuit" of militants. Although details are murky, Wednesday's raid does not appear to be a case of hot pursuit.

But a US official suggested that the raid was conducted in response to border attacks, and that no high-ranking militant leader was captured or killed.

"There are targets other than formally designated, high-value targets," the official said.

US special operation forces have conducted raids before, including a 2006 mission in which the elite SEAL Team 6 went into Damadola to assault an Al Qaida compound.