WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush secretly approved orders in July that for the first time allow U.S. special forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without the approval of the Pakistani government, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
The new orders reflect concern about safe havens for AlQaeda and the Taliban inside Pakistan, as well as an Americanview that Pakistan lacks the will and ability to combatmilitants, the paper said.
"The situation in the tribal areas is not tolerable," saida senior U.S. official who spoke to the Times on condition ofanonymity. "We have to be more assertive. Orders have beenissued."
The newspaper said the orders also illustrated lingeringdistrust of the Pakistani military and intelligence agenciesand a belief some U.S. operations had been compromised oncePakistanis were advised of the details.
U.S. officials told the Times they would notify Pakistanwhen they conduct limited ground attacks like the SpecialOperations raid last week in a Pakistani village near theAfghanistan border, but they would not ask for its permission.
Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani said on WednesdayPakistan would not allow foreign troops to conduct operationson its soil.
"The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countrywill be defended at all cost and no external force is allowedto conduct operations ... inside Pakistan," a militarystatement quoted Kayani as saying.
A senior U.S. official told the Times the Pakistanigovernment had assented privately to the general concept oflimited ground assaults by U.S. forces against significantmilitant targets, but that it did not approve each mission.
The top U.S. military officer told Congress on Wednesdaythe military was not winning the fight against the insurgencyin Afghanistan and said it would revise its strategy to combatmilitant safe havens in Pakistan.
"I'm not convinced we are winning it in Afghanistan. I amconvinced we can," Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, told a congressional committee nearly sevenyears after U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban.
Mullen said he was "looking at a new, more comprehensivestrategy for the region" that would cover both sides of theborder, including Pakistan's tribal areas.
Violence in Afghanistan has soared over the past two yearsas al Qaeda and Taliban fighters have regrouped in the remoteregion between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The United States has stepped up attacks against militanttargets inside Pakistan this year with a series of missilestrikes from unmanned drones and a raid by helicopter-borneU.S. commandos in recent days. The attacks have been denouncedby Pakistani leaders.
