NYT wrote:
President Bush secretly approved orders in July that for the first time allow American Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without the prior approval of the Pakistani government, according to senior American officials.
The classified orders signal a watershed for the Bush administration after nearly seven years of trying to work with Pakistan to combat the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and after months of high-level stalemate about how to challenge the militants’ increasingly secure base in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
American officials say that they will notify Pakistan when they conduct limited ground attacks like the Special Operations raid last Wednesday in a Pakistani village near the Afghanistan border, but that they will not ask for its permission.
The classified orders signal a watershed for the Bush administration after nearly seven years of trying to work with Pakistan to combat the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and after months of high-level stalemate about how to challenge the militants’ increasingly secure base in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
American officials say that they will notify Pakistan when they conduct limited ground attacks like the Special Operations raid last Wednesday in a Pakistani village near the Afghanistan border, but that they will not ask for its permission.
Back in Aug 2007, Totem wrote:
Granted, it hasn't been all roses in regards to our relationship with the Pakis, but to discuss sending troops in or unilaterally conducting military ops is just stupid. Why not go for the hat trick, Obama, and say we are gonna send troops in Iran as well just as soon as you get into office? Idiot.
Huh. Timetable for Iraqi withdrawal, increased troop presence in Afghanistan, taking the initative in Pakistan... it'd be nice to have a president who thinks of these things a year in advance rather than one who thinks of them a year after the fact. Still, it's good to see the administration belatedly agree that Obama is the good idea guy.
