August 24, 2008	Sunday	Sha'aban 21, 1429

WASHINGTON, Aug 23: Senior Pentagon officials are debating whether the US military should undertake independent operations against militants operating in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal areas, The Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday.

The newspaper said these internal debates followed US intelligence warnings that Al Qaeda and other militant groups were consolidating their hold on northwestern Pakistan.

“Radical terrorist groups in the border regions have undermined and fought against the central government of Pakistan and carved out sanctuaries and training bases,” an unnamed senior US official in Afghanistan is quoted by the Times as saying. “They have come back, and they are presenting a significant challenge.”

A team of 30 trainers was supposed to be sent to Pakistan this summer to operate out of a base near Peshawar. But Pentagon officials said the training has been blocked by the Pakistan government for months, in part because of anger over the June killing of 11 Frontier Corps personnel in a US air strike near the Afghan border.—AFP