April 18, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 11, 1429

WASHINGTON, April 17: A US government agency on Thursday blamed the Bush administration for “failing to destroy Al Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan’s tribal zone”, thus increasing pressure on Washington to target suspected terrorist hideouts in the area.

“The United States has not met its national security goals to destroy terrorist threats and close the safe haven in Pakistan’s Fata,” the US Government Accountability Office reported. “No comprehensive plan for meeting US national security goals in the Fata has been developed.”

The report comes at a time when Pakistan’s new civilian leaders are trying to convince Washington to stop air strikes at targets inside the tribal zone and allow them to hold talks with the militants for ending violence.

Islamabad believes that the air strikes increase anti-US and anti-government sentiments across Pakistan and also generate sympathy for the militants when they kill innocent civilians along with the militants.

The US Government Accountability Office is the investigation arm of Congress and its report is bound to create problems for the Bush administration in a Congress dominated by the Democrats.

The Bush administration, which ends its term in December, also faces pressure from other quarters for achieving limited success in eliminating suspected Al Qaeda hideouts in Fata and may be forced to increase military actions against them.

“Neither the National Security Council nor other executive branch departments have developed a comprehensive plan that includes all elements of national power — diplomatic, military, intelligence, development assistance, economic, and law enforcement support — called for by the various national security strategies and Congress,” the GAO report observed.

The report noted that since 2002, the United States relied principally on the Pakistan military to address US national security goals.