‘Frustrated’ US may strike against Taliban leaders hiding in Pak India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The United States is annoyed and frustrated at the way the Taliban and other extremists are easily sneaking into Pakistan’s territory bordering Afghanistan, and could launch an air strike against the Talibani leadership who has taken refuge in Quetta. According to The Times, the US’s threat to target Taliban inside Pakistan’s geographical boundary comes amid the increasing division in Washington over whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to deal with the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan or by reducing the number of security personnel and target the militants directly. The report said that US officials are still suspicious about Islamabad’s intentions and believe that parts of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) supports the Taliban and is protecting Taliban chief Mullah Omar and other leaders in Quetta. Officials also believe that Pakistan has been moving Taliban leaders to Karachi, where it would be virtually impossible for the foreign forces to locate and attack them. “US officials have even discussed sending commandos to Quetta to capture or kill the Taliban chiefs before they are moved,” the report added. However, some officials argued that sending more troops in the region would only aggravate the matter and that the drone strikes should be continued as they have proved very effective in the tribal areas. “Pakistan is the nuclear elephant in the room,” the report quoted a western diplomat, as saying.