Obama mulls expanded strikes in Pakistan

WASHINGTON, March 18 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama and security advisers are considering pushing airstrikes against the Taliban in Pakistan beyond the tribal region, officials said.

Senior administration officials said two reports on Pakistan and Afghanistan included calls for broadening the target area to include a haven for insurgents in and around Quetta, where Taliban leaders have mounted attacks into southern Afghanistan, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

In separate reports, panels led by U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of American forces in the region, and U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, a White House official on Afghanistan, recommended expanding American operations outside the tribal areas if Pakistan cannot eradicate the strengthening insurgency.

The missile strikes carried out by CIA-operated unmanned aircraft have been limited to tribal areas and never extended to Quetta and the Baluchistan province, which runs along parts of southern Afghanistan, an area of fierce fighting recently, the Times said.

While some U.S. leaders expressed concern that extending the raids would worsen U.S.-Pakistan relations, other officials said the strikes forced some Taliban and al-Qaida leaders to flee toward Quetta, making them more vulnerable. Pakistan said the raids violate the country's sovereignty.

Mike Hammer, a National Security Council spokesman, told the Times, "We're still working hard to finalize the review on Afghanistan and Pakistan that the president requested," but didn't provide details.

Another official said to the Times, "It is fair to say that there is wide agreement to sustain and continue these covert programs. One of the foundations on which the recommendations to the president will be based is that we've got to sustain the disruption of the safe havens."