US mulls more missions into Pak

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 long-standing debate within the Bush administration over how to deal with militants in Pakistan.

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.

Within the Pentagon and among military officers in the region, many are skeptical 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 up during the day.

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.

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