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US may send more troops on search-and-destroy missions to Pakistan

A Correspondent in New York

The Bush Administration may send more troops to Pakistan to pursue Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, according to a report published in this week's issue of India Abroad. Thousands of Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters escaped from Afghanistan into Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province.

India Abroad reported that some Pentagon officials, including army commanders directing the operations in Afghanistan, want "to seek out and kill" Al Qaeda and Taliban forces after chasing them into Pakistan. Others advise restraint, warning that any foray by US troops into Pakistan could be "disastrous and jeopardize" Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's regime.

For the time being, the Americans do not want to "make the situation any worse than it already is for Musharraf in terms of accusations that he has sold out to the United States."

Diplomatically, sources acknowledged to India Abroad, that there was "a lot of opposition to hot pursuit because of the precedents it could establish. Other countries could justify going after terrorists they believed had escaped into another country." It is understood that the reference to "other countries" is to India, where hardliners have advocated hot pursuit to attack training camps for terrorists in Pakistan.

Pentagon officials and army commanders, India Abroad reported, "continue to push for going after Al Qaeda and the Taliban who have fled to Pakistan. Not doing so they feared would only result in this region of Pakistan becoming a terrorist-free zone like it was in Afghanistan."

Tribal leaders in the Northwest Frontier Province have warned the US from entering Pakistani territory on any search and destroy mission against Al Qaeda and Taliban forces. They have vowed armed resistance to any such attempt.

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