WASHINGTON, Nov 18: The latest campaign in Pakistan against militant outfits also reflects an increasing US pressure on Islamabad to do more in the fight against terror, diplomatic sources told Dawn on Tuesday.

The sources pointed out that in less than a week, the government has banned three militant groups working under new names, raided dozens of offices and Madressahs that the government said were encouraging militancy and vowed to choke the channels that finance the groups in 72 hours.

The action followed a warning from US Ambassador Nancy Powell last week that re-named militant organizations “posed a threat to Pakistan, the region and the United States”.

Although later, a State Department spokesman tried to assure Islamabad that Washington still values its contribution to the fight against terror, sources say that behind the door, the Americans were not as gracious as they appeared in public.

The sources say that at a meeting with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar in Washington last week, senior State Department officials also expressed their apprehension on some issues, particularly continued cross-border infiltrations into Indian Kashmir.

Media reports in Washington say that some recent events have increased Washington’s concerns about Pakistan’s ability to successfully engage terrorists in certain areas.

A recent report referred to an operation in South Waziristan Agency in September this year. The joint US-Pakistan operation followed a tip to US intelligence officials that senior Al Qaeda operatives were hiding in this area.

The report says that initially both Pakistani and US authorities claimed netting several important suspects but later US intelligence officials complained that some top Al Qaeda operatives were allowed to escape.

US intelligence officials, the report says, are convinced that some key operatives were warned before the operation was launched and they escaped.

The report claims that three Arab suspects arrested recently from a house in Islamabad also told their interrogators that senior Al Qaeda suspects were hiding in South Waziristan Agency, but were tipped off before the operation.