Taliban strikes show US doesn’t trust Pakistan

On September 3, two dozen US Navy Seal commandos were dropped by helicopter at Angoor Adda, a mile inside the Pakistan border in South Waziristan. After a short operation the Seals were lifted out again and returned to their base in Paktia, southern Afghanistan.

The target was the eminent Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani. They did not hit him, but an air raid by US drones last Monday on the same area killed two of his wives, grandchildren and other relatives.

The attacks are the first under secret orders signed by President George Bush last July, only now made public, authorising US special operations attacks inside Pakistan against alleged Taliban and al-Qaeda targets without prior notification of the Pakistan government or military. This goes against international law and the fundamentals of the UN Charter and is technically an act of aggression.

When Barack Obama in a campaign speech proposed similar pre-emptive tactics in

Afghanistan, he was roundly condemned by press and public. When asked about the use of such tactics in her ABC interview on Thursday, vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin appeared floored.

The Seals' raid took place a day or so before Asif Ali Zardari (left) became the first civilian president of Pakistan in nine years. The implication of the new doctrine is that the Americans don't think the Pakistanis can be trusted. Privately, US commanders have been briefing that previous cross-border raids - made with prior notification - have been compromised because parts of the local Pakistan command and Inter Service Intelligence tipped off the Taliban.

The Pakistan military is furious. A spokesman said the September 3 raid achieved little beyond killing about four Taliban "foot soldiers" and more than a dozen civilians, including women and children.

The hot pursuit tactic will only increase the Bush administration's increasing alienation of its closest allies - among them Britain, Pakistan, Israel and even Turkey. It is also likely to backfire, because it will drive several million uncommitted Afghan refugees in northern Pakistan into the arms of the Taliban.