U.S. weighs new covert push in Pakistan: report
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Senior U.S. officials, concerned over intelligence reports that al Qaeda and the Taliban are more intent on destabilizing Pakistan, are considering expanding the authority of the CIA and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations there, the New York Times said on Sunday.
Citing senior Bush administration officials who spoke off the record, the Times said that while no decisions had been made, the options under discussion included the CIA working with the military's Special Operations forces.
Several participants in a meeting on Friday argued that the threat to President Pervez Musharraf's government was now so acute that Musharraf and the country's military leadership were likely to grant Washington more latitude, the Times said.
Among those reported at the meeting were Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and top national security advisers to President George W. Bush.
Spokesmen for the White House, the CIA, and the Pentagon declined to discuss the meeting, but one official said the discussion reflected concerns that a new al Qaeda haven was solidifying in parts of Pakistan and needed to be countered, the Times said.
While no new options had been formally presented by Washington to Musharraf, the newspaper said that officials from the White House to the Pentagon saw an opening in Pakistan's changing political structure for Washington's expanding authority in the nuclear-armed country.
"After years of focusing on Afghanistan, we think the extremists now see a chance for the big prize -- creating chaos in Pakistan itself," the Times quoted a senior official as saying.
Bush administration aides said that Pakistani and U.S. officials shared concerns about a resurgent al Qaeda, and that U.S. diplomats and senior military officers had been working closely with Pakistani officials to strengthen Pakistan's counterterrorism operations, the newspaper said.
Some State Department officials contend, however, that U.S.-led military operations in Pakistan near the Afghan border could foment a powerful backlash and thus do more harm than good, the Times said.
New options for expanded covert operations under consideration included loosening reins on the CIA so it could strike at select targets in Pakistan, officials told the newspaper.
If the CIA were given wider latitude, it could call in military help or charge Special Operations forces to act under its authority, the Times said.
Any expanded U.S. operations by the CIA or Special Operations forces would be small and specifically tailored, military officials said.
The Friday meeting also included Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and top intelligence officials.
(Writing by Chris Michaud, editing by Philip Barbara, New York bureau)
