'US might mount Special Forces strikes in Pak in 2010'

[Elzenga]

Het zou al vergelding moeten zijn, maar grootschalige bombardementen of aanvallen lijken me tot nu toe weinig en maar deels effectief. Althans ze hebben de stroom aan terroristen die in het Westen opduiken of in de regio zelf nog niet ingedamd. Je kunt immers op veel kleinere schaal gaan opereren als terroristische organisatie als je trainingskampen te kwetsbaar worden. Desnoods midden in een stad. Desnoods zelfs gewoon in een Westers land. Het nadeel van zo'n trainingskamp is dat er terroristen worden opgeleid....het voordeel, dat zo'n kamp meestal goed "zichtbaar" en makkelijker gevonden is en je dus alle ins and outs in de gaten kunt houden. Van mijn part zetten ze dan wat vaker een ongeluk in scene om een terrorist op doorreis te elimineren...er zijn vast slimmere ingrepen. Maar ja, openlijke vergelding heeft vaak ook een politiek doel. 

[Lex]

US Studies Options for Pakistan Attack

The U.S. military is developing plans for a unilateral attack on the Pakistani Taliban in the event of a successful terrorist strike in the United States that can be traced to them, The Washington Post reports.

Planning for a retaliatory attack was spurred by ties between alleged Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad and elements of the Pakistani Taliban, the Post said in an article posted on its website Friday night, quoting unidentified senior military officials.

The military would focus on air and missile strikes but also could use small teams of U.S. Special Operations troops currently along the border with Afghanistan, the Post said.

Airstrikes could damage the militants' ability to launch new attacks but also might damage U.S.-Pakistani relations.
The CIA already conducts unmanned drone strikes in the country's tribal regions. Officials told the Post that a U.S. military response would be considered only if a terrorist attacks persuaded President Barack Obama that the CIA campaign is ineffective.

A senior U.S. official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Pakistan already has been told that it has only weeks to show real progress in a crackdown against the Taliban.

May 29, 2010
Associated Press

[VandeWiel]

The United States may mount special operations to strike Taliban and al Qaeda targets in Pakistan and also step up drone attacks against them in the near future, according to an American intelligence thinktank.

Contending that the bulk of al Qaeda leadership is now in Pakistan and not in Afghanistan, the Stratfor in its annual security forecast said, this could prompt "Increased cross- border US military activity ¿ mostly drone strikes, but also Special Forces Operations - will be a defining characteristic of the conflict in the area in 2010".

Pakistan is near "breakpoint," it said as both jihadist and Americans were now operating on its soil, and "thus it is here, not Afghanistan, where the nature of war is shifting".

"US actions will force Pakistan's military to expand the scope of its counterinsurgency offensive, which will turn heretofore neutral militants against the Pakistani state.

"The consequence will be a sharp escalation in militant attacks across Pakistan, including deep into the Punjabi core," the global intelligence think tank said.

Even a moderate increase in US action, it said, will be notable to the Pakistanis among whom the US efforts in Afghanistan are already deeply unpopular.

Bron: Stratfor /  http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/US-might-mount-SPL-Forces-Strikes-in-Pak-in-2010/563664/