From the New York Times:
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…
Pakistan’s ungovernable “tribal areas” are clearly the weak link in our battle against terrorism in that area – but I do wonder if we’re not about to make a mistake here: meaning, are we about to expand our forces in Pakistan to the point where we offend but not expand them enough to ensure a quick suppression of Taliban/al Qaeda activity? As usual in war, if you’re going in, go in all the way…don’t just increase drone and special forces attacks as there will inevitably be a point where we hit the wrong house/village and we’ll have a lot of dead civilians on our hands.
My worry is that this is going to be yet another half-measure by the Obama Administration – an unwillingness to go all out for victory coupled with an unwillingness to lose. You know, a quagmire…
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