Pakistan

[Lamplighter]

And so it begins (or continues)... as predictable as a lunar eclipse

NY Times
U.S. Military Seeks to Expand Raids in Pakistan
By MARK MAZZETTI and DEXTER FILKINS
Published: December 20, 2010

WASHINGTON — Senior American military commanders in Afghanistan are pushing
for an expanded campaign of Special Operations ground raids across the border into Pakistan’s tribal areas,
a risky strategy reflecting the growing frustration with Pakistan’s efforts to root out militants there.

The proposal, described by American officials in Washington and Afghanistan,
would escalate military activities inside Pakistan, where the movement of American forces
has been largely prohibited because of fears of provoking a backlash.

America’s clandestine war in Pakistan has for the most part been carried out
by armed drones operated by the C.I.A.

The decision to expand American military activity in Pakistan,
which would almost certainly have to be approved by President Obama himself,
would amount to the opening of a new front in the nine-year-old war,
which has grown increasingly unpopular among Americans.

According to an Afghan political leader, one of the raids was initiated to capture
a Taliban commander working inside Pakistan.
When the Afghan troops reached the compound, they did not find the Taliban commander,
but the Pakistani militants opened fire on them, the Afghan said.

An American official disputed this account, saying that the C.I.A. militias are not sent
over the border to capture militant leaders, but merely to gather intelligence.
<snip>
Two years earlier, in September 2008, American commandos carried out a raid in Pakistan’s tribal areas
and killed several people suspected of being insurgents.
The episode led to outrage among Pakistan’s leaders — and warnings not to try again.