Vol. 72/No. 39      October 6, 2008

In recent months the U.S. military has stepped up air strikes and ground operations against the Taliban, often without informing the Pakistani government. Just ahead of a meeting with U.S. president George Bush, Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari said that Pakistan would not tolerate continued violations of its sovereignty.

Agence France-Presse said that Pakistani troops had reportedly fired on U.S. helicopters that crossed the Pakistani border, although the U.S. military said it has no evidence of such an attack.

A truck bomb exploded just outside the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad September 20, killing at least 53 people and wounding hundreds of others. Pakistan’s prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said the original target of the bomb was his residence where several top officials of the Pakistani government were gathered including Gilani, President Zardari, and head of the army Gen. Ashfaq Kayani.

The Pakistani government has said the bombing was likely the work of al-Qaeda.

Under former president Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan became a reluctant and unstable ally in Washington’s “war on terror” following the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Musharraf regime had been a longtime sponsor of the Taliban.

Pakistani intelligence services have maintained ties with the Taliban and other Islamist militia groups—some as far back as al-Qaeda’s fight against Soviet troops in the 1980s. They are a useful counterweight for Islamabad to the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan.

Speaking before a Senate panel September 23, U.S. defense secretary Robert Gates reaffirmed what he called Washington’s right to take military action inside Pakistan but also called on the Pakistani government to do more in fighting a common foe.

Gates praised the most recent offensive by the Pakistani military against Taliban and al-Qaeda-backed militias. He said the mere presence of Pakistani troops forces the Taliban to keep more of its militia members in Pakistan.

The Pakistani military said some 50 Islamist militia members have been killed in two days of fighting.  
 
 
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