President Bush’s senior national security advisers are debating whether to expand the authority of the CIA and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
The debate is in response to intelligence reports that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are intensifying efforts to destabilize the Pakistani government, according to several senior administration officials.
“After years of focusing on Afghanistan, we think the extremists now see a chance for the big prize — creating chaos in Pakistan itself,” a senior official said.
Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a number of Bush’s top national security advisers met Friday at the White House to discuss the proposal, part of a broad reassessment of U.S. strategy after the Dec. 27 assassination of Pakistan’s opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto.
Several participants argued that the threat to President Pervez Musharraf’s government is so grave that Musharraf and the new military leadership are likely to give the United States more latitude, said officials who declined to speak on the record because of the highly delicate nature of the discussions.
The specific options under discussion are unclear and highly classified.
Officials said no decision had been made, but the options would probably involve the CIA working with the Special Operations forces.
The Bush administration has not presented any new options to Musharraf, who gave up his military role last month, or to his successor as the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, who the White House thinks will be more sympathetic to the U.S. position.
But from the White House to the Pentagon, officials see an opportunity in the changing power structure to advocate for the expanded authority.
In the past, the administration has largely stayed out of the tribal areas, in part for fear that exposure of any U.S.-led operations there would embarrass the Musharraf government and further empower his critics. Officials say some in the State Department argue that such operations could lead to a backlash and do more harm than good.
In part, the White House discussions may be driven by a desire for another effort to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who have eluded the administration for more than six years.
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The new options for expanded covert operations include loosening the reins of the CIA to strike selected targets in Pakistan, in some cases using intelligence provided by Pakistani sources, officials said.