US ready to flatten FATA if attacked by al-Qaeda from there

American intelligence officials have said that should a resurgent al-Qaeda think of attacking the United States again after a gap of six years from Pakistans volatile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the Bush Administration would not hesitate to move in troops to flatten the area.

New York, July 22 : American intelligence officials have said that should a resurgent al-Qaeda think of attacking the United States again after a gap of six years from Pakistan's volatile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the Bush Administration would not hesitate to move in troops to "flatten" the area.

In a report filed by the New York Times (NYT), Washington now believes that the recent events taking place in Pakistan, have at last presented it with an opportunity for a serious campaign against Islamic radicals in Pakistan.

The breakdown of a cease-fire between elders in Pakistan's tribal areas and the Musharraf regime, combined with Musharraf's determination to crack down on extremists in his country, may finally have given Bush something his predecessor, Bill Clinton, never had: "A partner who may at long last be persuaded to go after an entrenched terrorist haven," says the paper.

As a National Intelligence Estimate released last week has made clear, the al-Qaeda has reconstituted itself in the wild tribal areas of north western Pakistan. It is now stronger than at any other time in years, and is actively plotting new attacks.

In Pakistan, experts argue that should Musharraf begin an aggressive campaign against the Al Qaeda and the Taliban, it wouldn't be to please Washington, but to project an image of "being a forceful leader before his countrymen go to the polls."

"There is recognition on Musharraf's part that he has an opportunity now that may not exist in a future political configuration because his power may wane," the NYT quotes Daniel Markey of the Council on Foreign Relations, as saying.

The paper further goes onto say that the Bush Administration is captivated by General Musharraf because "he is a secular moderate", and "not to be confused with a civil libertarian."

The view in Washington now appears to be that the Musharraf Government has, at long last, gotten the message that the FATA is an area fanning extremist violence, and therefore, requires decisive attention.

According to the paper, no one in Washington believes that Pakistan's intelligence service has been purged of Taliban sympathizers.

"When Americans hear General Musharraf's promises, they are once burned, and twice skeptical," the NYT reports, based on comments by a former C.I.A. official who had extensive experience in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"The Pakistani Army is designed, trained and equipped to fight India in Kashmir and deter New Dehli with nuclear weapons. That requires a dramatically different kind of strategy from what is needed in the tribal areas, whose leaders do not consider themselves part of Pakistan," the paper adds quoting the former official and others.

Doubts still persist within the administration about whether Musharraf retains the capability to deal firmly with these extremist elements, which is why the United States is rushing to supply him with more money and weapons.

As the NYT report says the western mountains of Pakistan have been the hatching grounds for some of Al Qaeda's deadliest plots, such as 7/7 in 2005 and the thwarted plot to blow up multiple trans-Atlantic commercial jets last August.

It says that the options facing Bush are at least as unpalatable as those that confronted President Clinton between 1992 and 2000.

The options include initiating aggressive campaigns of deniable covert action in Pakistan to capture or kill Qaeda operatives, and pray that American Special Forces or C.I.A. officers don't get caught.

Another would be to carry out air strikes against known terrorist compounds in the tribal areas.

A third would involve carrying out a large-scale ground offensive across the border from Afghanistan to capture and, or, eliminate Qaeda and Taliban remnants, and lastly, but the least likely, to send thousands of heavily armed American soldiers on a cave-to-cave search of North Waziristan with the objective of effectively dismantling the Al Qaeda's Pakistan base of operations.

Though unilateral air strikes are an option, military and intelligence officials say that such strikes must be precise and accurate, because an opportunity for another might not exist.

Intelligence officials also acknowledge that after each attack, the terror groups tap a deep bench and elevate another operative to a more lofty position.

When asked how the United States would respond if the Al Qaeda were to plot a successful attack on the United States from the tribal areas, the answer given is: "We'd go in and flatten it."

ANI