WASHINGTON, Jan 22: The Bush administration is not satisfied with the quality of information it is getting about terrorist groups operating in Pakistan’s volatile tribal area, a senior US official said on Tuesday.

Despite the shortcomings, the United States will not carry out military strikes on its own inside Pakistan unless President Pervez Musharraf’s government requests direct support, said Dell Dailey, the State Department’s counter-terror chief.

“There are gaps in intelligence,” Dailey said during a breakfast meeting with journalists. “We don’t have enough information about what’s going on there. Not on Al Qaeda. Not on foreign fighters. Not on the Taliban.”

Dailey, a retired army lieutenant general with an extensive background in special operations, said the lack of information makes him “uncomfortable.” Yet the solution to the problem rests mainly with the Pakistanis, he said, who probably would consider too much US involvement as an unwelcome intrusion.

“We have to be careful conducting operations in a sovereign country, particularly one that’s a friend of ours and one that has given us a lot of support,” Dailey said. “The blowback would be pretty serious.”—AP

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.