Pakistan refuses to go after Taliban sanctuary used to attack Afghanistan

NY Times:

Demands by the United States for Pakistanto crack down on the strongest Taliban warrior in Afghanistan, Siraj Haqqani, whose fighters pose the biggest threat to American forces, have been rebuffed by the Pakistani military, according to Pakistani military officials and diplomats.

The Obama administration wants Pakistan to turn on Mr. Haqqani, a longtime asset of Pakistan’s spy agency who uses the tribal area of North Waziristan as his sanctuary. But, the officials said, Pakistan views the entreaties as contrary to its interests in Afghanistan beyond the timetable of President Obama’s surge, which envisions reducing American forces beginning in mid-2011.

The demands, first made by senior American officials before President Obama’s Afghanistan speech and repeated many times since, were renewed in a written message delivered in recent days by the United States Embassy to the head of the Pakistani military, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, according to American officials. Gen. David H. Petraeus followed up on Monday during a visit to Islamabad.

The demands have been accompanied by strong suggestions that if the Pakistanis cannot take care of the problem, including dismantling the Taliban leadership based in Quetta, Pakistan, then the Americans will by resorting to broader and more frequent drone strikes in Pakistan.

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I think the US has made Hellfire attacks on the Haqqani network. I don't think they will be restrained in making future attacks in their sanctuary. Quetta would be a more difficult target area and we would need the help of Pakistan intelligence in locating targets. Pakistan has long had an irrational resistance to our special ops forces attacking the enemy on Pakistan territory. I think the threat of unleashing them would be worthwhile.