by Gareth Porter, CommonDreams.org, Dec 23, 2010
WASHINGTON – This week’s leak to the New York Times of a proposal for U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) raids against Afghan insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan may be intended to put more pressure on the Pakistani military to take action against those sanctuaries.
![[Spc. Randy.J. Lockwood of Muskegon Michigan of 2nd Platoon Bravo Company 2-327 Infantry stand guard as Afghan men greet each other in Chowkay district near Pakistani border in Kunar province, eastern Afghanistan, Wednesday, Dec 22, 2010.(AP / Rafiq Maqbool)]](https://i0.wp.com/www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/afghanistan_101222.jpg "afghanistan_101222.jpg")
Spc. Randy.J. Lockwood of Muskegon Michigan of 2nd Platoon Bravo Company 2-327 Infantry stand guard as Afghan men greet each other in Chowkay district near Pakistani border in Kunar province, eastern Afghanistan, Wednesday, Dec 22, 2010.(AP / Rafiq Maqbool)But the proposal for such cross-border raids also reflects a real demand from the U.S.-NATO command in Afghanistan to target insurgent leaders inside Pakistan if the Pakistani military does not respond to the threat, according to a U.S. source familiar with discussions at the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters in Kabul.
And the position of the Barack Obama administration on the necessity of attacking insurgent safe havens in Pakistan appears to be in line with the proposal for cross-border raids.
Carrying out such raids would probably provoke a new level of anti-U.S. sentiment in Pakistan, with dangerous political consequences in that country, according to experts on Pakistan, but the behaviour of the national security organs of the United States in the recent past suggests that such dangers are being rationalised.
Peace and Justice Post 
December 27, 2010 at 4:48 am |
[…] Recently, the US media has got justifiably agitated at the sentence of death by stoning of two women – one a mere teenager – for the crime of adultery. “Bloody barbarians”, they fulminate; and quite rightly too. Now get this. The Pakistani government sanctions stoning deaths for the same charge in Pakistan and also prescribes the death sentence for blasphemy, which needs nothing more than criticizing Muhammed or Allah. Although the establishment claims that the average Pakistani is against religious extremism, a survey has found that two-thirds of the population favoured Sharia law and giving power to “religious” judges. Other poll findings: 78% favour death for those who leave Islam; 80% favour whippings For more on this read: https://sudhan.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/us-plan-for-high-risk-raids-into-pakistan-is-more-than-psywar… […]
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