ISLAMABAD
Keeping in view the American frustration and also the pressure that they have been building, a fresh but targeted offensive in North Waziristan can be started soon, an official said on Wednesday.
He said US President Barack Obama conveyed the same message of urgency when he called President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday. He said the American president did not go into specifics during his conversation with the president but he urged him to go for more and urgent measures to curb terrorism.
“However, the Americans have been asking Pakistan through diplomatic channels to avoid any further delay in a limited operation and especially when they have accepted Islamabad’s plea that it couldn’t go for a full-fledged offensive as it was overstretched because of its deep involvement in flood-relief activities as well as military operations in other Tribal Areas,” the official said.
A diplomat requesting anonymity said, “The Obama administration believes that since it was Islamabad that came up with the idea of a targeted offensive instead of an all-out military operation in North Waziristan, and with Washington approving the very idea, any further delay is now unnecessary and a cause of deep concern for the US,” he said.
“They (Americans) want immediate action in North Waziristan as they believe that any such move by Pakistan in synchronisation with the CIA drone attacks in the restive tribal region can yield the results desired by Washington, the destruction of militant hideouts.
The Obama administration believes that this objective could be achieved by squeezing the al-Qaeda and Taliban militants between the drone attacks and Pakistani air strikes along with limited ground action,” the diplomat said.
