Islamabad, May 29: Putting more pressure on Pakistan to launch a military operation in North Waziristan against the Qaeda and Taliban networks, the Barack Obama administration is learnt to have threatened Islamabad that American forces would be compelled to act against Islamist terrorists operating from its territory if Islamabad failed to uproot them.
The American warning of increasing drone attacks inside Pakistan and using special forces has come at a time when the Pakistani forces are busy battling the Taliban near the border with Afghanistan.
According to diplomatic circles in Islamabad, US president Obama conveyed the message directly to his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, in a letter delivered last week by high-ranking American officials, including Central Intelligence Agency chief Leon Panetta and US national security adviser General James Jones.
The sources say Zardari has not yet replied to the two-page letter.
Zardari, at his meeting with the Americans, is said to have given no indication of how Pakistan would respond to the message.
“The US wants Pakistan to go hard on Islamic extremists and to increase cooperation with the Americans in this regard,” the sources said.
They said Obama’s letter was a firmly worded impetus for Pakistan to move hard against the extremists but did not give out any sort of ultimatum or deadline for pacing up operations in the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.
But defence analysts in Islamabad interpreted the message as a fairly bald warning that unless Pakistan moved quickly to act against the two groups, the US would take unilateral action.
—Agencies