Is the U.S. greatly increasing pressure on Pakistan in the war on terror? There are a variety of indications that this is happening, not the least of which are comments in news reports from officials about the fact that the late, unlamented terrorism chief Osama bin Laden was found living a stone’s throw from Pakistan’s West Point. I don’t usually quote the site Debka, but this one is worth quoting since it makes such sense:
The US is sustaining the momentum of the war on terror by sending more Special Forces and drones into Pakistan after Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant, Ayman al Zawahiri, Taliban leader Mullah Omer and al Qaeda’s chief operations officer, Seif al Adal. DEBKAfile: Washington suspects their whereabouts are known to Pakistan’s Inter-Services-Intelligence agency (ISI) and has given Islamabad an ultimatum: Cooperate in their capture or US troops will take up the pursuit in your country.
This is the teaser before you go to a link and Debka offers you a subcription to read the rest. But this report makes perfect sense: with what is widely called a “treasure trove” of info on Al Qaeda and bin Laden seized by Navy Seals at the killed mass murderer’s house, the fact that top Al Qaeda and Taliban officials are probably more on the run than ever and can get sloppy, and that bil Laden’s killing now gives “Big Mo” to anti-terrorism forces it is logical that Americans would step up efforts to get remaining terrorism-related figures who now realize they may have an extremely short time to surrender if they are confronted.
Moreover, although Pakistan remains vital to the U.S. in many areas, anger in Congress over what is either Pakistani intelligence/military collusion with Al Qaeda or Guiness Book of Record incompetence is strong. More than ever, Pakistan — no matter how important it is to American interests — is at its weakest point in terms of political support here. So a U.S. full court press would make sense.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.