* Analysts say US forces operated inside Pakistan in small numbers for years
* Former US ambassador says use of US ground forces in Pakistan can inflame Zardari-Nawaz rivalry
WASHINGTON: The George W Bushs administration is unlikely to use commando raids as a common tactic against militant safe havens in Pakistan due to the high-stake risks to
US policy in the region, officials and analysts say.
Bush approved a US commando assault in South Waziristan on September 3, without Islamabads permission, as part of a presidential order on clandestine and covert operations, officials and sources familiar with the matter said.
Bushs authorisation for the use of ground forces without Pakistani approval was part of a larger ramp-up in US strikes against militant safe havens along the shared border with Afghanistan. Pakistan had complained that the attack killed at least 20 people and vowed to defend its sovereignty against foreign forces.
Days later, Pakistani officials and villagers near the site of the initial attack said US helicopters crossed the border from Afghanistan in a second incursion but were forced back by Pakistani ground fire. The incident was denied by both Pakistani and US military officials.
As a sign of growing tensions, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen paid an unannounced visit to Pakistan on Tuesday his second meeting with Pakistani officials in three weeks. But officials and sources said any future raids must be approved on a mission-by-mission basis by a top US administration official because of the political sensitivities involved and the calculated risk of US troops being killed or captured on the Pakistani soil.
It was not clear whether permission must be given by the president or can be relegated to the defence secretary.
This is extremely sensitive. You cant have soldiers in the field, or even their commanders, making this kind of decision, said an official on condition of anonymity.
Operation inside Pakistan: Analysts said US special operations and paramilitary forces had operated inside Pakistan in small numbers for years, mainly in conjunction with the Pakistani military.
But US involvement escalated on September 3 when about two dozens US special operations forces backed by an AC-130 helicopter gunship raided a suspected Al Qaeda compound near the village of Angoor Adda in what US officials privately described as a stepped-up campaign to disrupt increasingly dangerous militant safe havens in Pakistans tribal region.
The Bush administration had grown impatient at Pakistans reluctance to take military action against militant bases. The US military and intelligence community in Afghanistan was getting increasingly concerned that the Pakistani government was not only unable but unwilling to conduct operations against the militants, said an analyst involved in US government deliberations.
This meant that if we were to deal effectively with one of the most serious concerns about the Afghan insurgency, we needed to step up activity. And that meant we needed a presidential order, the analyst said.
The US has 33,000 troops in Afghanistan and plans to send fresh forces that will increase the overall number by nearly 2,000 by next year, a fraction of the 10,000 troops sought by US commanders on the ground.
Inflaming rivalry: Former US ambassador to Sri Lanka Teresita Schaffer said the use of US ground forces could increase political turmoil by inflaming the rivalry between President Asif Ali
Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif.
If this is a one-off or two-off, you can get past it. But as a regular modus operandi, I dont think the Pakistani government can sustain it, she said.
Steve Coll of the New America Foundation said the use of US ground forces posed particular problems for the Pakistani military, which the Bush administration is pressing for more assistance against militants. reuters
