U.S. plays for high stakes on Pakistan-Afghan border

By Zeeshan Haider - Analysis

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld may not have been shy about projecting U.S. military power, but even he didn't dare send American troops into Pakistan's tribal lands to snatch or kill al Qaeda leaders.

But now Pakistanis fear the U.S. presidential campaign has heated up the foreign policy debate over how to handle the Taliban and al Qaeda threat to a point where American leaders could throw caution to the wind by taking unilateral action.

"If this was a possibility in the past, it's a high possibility now," said a senior security official in the northwestern city of Peshawar, shuddering at the statements coming from the United States.

In 2005, Rumsfeld reportedly aborted a mission to eliminate Ayman al-Zawahri, al Qaeda's second-in-command, because it involved too many troops, chances of success were too uncertain, and the danger of riling the situation in Pakistan was too great.

The risks today may be even greater, with Pakistan going through a precarious transition to civilian-led democracy and tribesmen across the northwest reaching for their guns.

"If Americans hit the Pakistani side, they will make more enemies for themselves," Ayaz Wazir, a former Pakistani ambassador to Kabul, said.

TALIBAN PROTECTION

Mounting casualties among Western troops across the border in Afghanistan have fuelled alarm, as have intelligence assessments that al Qaeda could organize strikes on Western soil having regrouped in the tribal areas under Taliban protection.  Continued...