WASHINGTON: The operation in South Waziristan is of ‘very great importance’ to the United States but it’s still too early to say how well it’s going, says US special envoy Richard Holbrooke.

In a special briefing on the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Mr Holbrooke told reporters at the State Department that the South Waziristan operation was directed against the Pakistani Taliban, not Al Qaeda.

‘I can’t give you an answer because the offensive is just under way,’ said Mr Holbrooke when asked if the Pakistani military offensive against the militants in South Waziristan was going well.

‘I asked that question of my intelligence advisers this morning. They did not have definitive information.’

The United States, he said, knew where the troops were going but since the offensive was still in the early phase, ‘it’ll take a while before we know whether the enemy they’re fighting has been dispersed or destroyed or some mixture of the two’.

This was, however, ‘a question of very great importance’ for the United States ‘and we’ll look at it closely’.

Asked if the operation would also be a setback to Al Qaeda, Mr Holbrooke said: ‘The target was not Al Qaeda per se, because Al Qaeda is a shadowy group of people who are moving around.’

Mr Holbrooke also refused to speculate whether recent attacks on Pakistani military installations were ‘inside jobs’, the result of coordination between the extremists, and elements within the Pakistani military establishment.

‘I can’t answer – it’s pure speculation as to how much of this is an inside job or not. I have no information on that,’ said Mr Holbrooke.