US steps up Pakistan raids to thwart Qaeda plot

LAHORE: The Pentagon has ordered an increase in raids on suspected Taliban targets within Pakistan, to disrupt Al Qaeda leaders from preparing attacks on American targets near the US presidential election, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

“The aim is to disrupt their scope for planning and keep their leaders on the move so that it is more difficult for them to co-ordinate complicated plots,” a senior US intelligence official told the weekly newspaper.

Near election attack: The report quoted a senior US intelligence official as saying that Al Qaeda was seeking to launch a major attack on an American target near the election, to test the new president-elect. “Their goal would not be to influence the election but merely to send a message that they are still a force to be reckoned with,” the official said.
(Article continues below)

“Any attack in the weeks before the Nov 4 election – what is known in American political circles as an ‘October surprise’ – would almost certainly give a decisive boost to John McCain, the Republican candidate who already holds a commanding lead on questions of national security,” the report said.Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani has told his US counterparts that US incursions into Pakistani areas without prior approval are ‘unacceptable’.

Assertive Kayani: A western diplomat said General Kayani’s stand on US violations of Pakistani borders has taken the US aback. “He is trying to assert himself more than they (US) expected and sooner than they expected,” the diplomat said. A senior Pakistan army official said the army chief was facing difficulty in maintaining morale among his soldiers deployed in FATA because they were “being taunted by their fellow Muslims that they are working for the US against the Muslims”.