By David Morgan WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The Bush administration is unlikely to use commando raids as a common tactic against militant safe havens in Pakistan due to the high-stake risks to U.S. policy in the region, officials and analysts say. Bush approved a U.S. commando assault in Pakistan's South Waziristan on Sept. 3, without Islamabad's permission, as part of a presidential order on clandestine and covert operations, officials and sources familiar with the matter said. Bush's authorization for the use of ground forces without Pakistani approval was part of a larger ramp-up in U.S. strikes against militant safe havens along the shared border with Afghanistan. An angry Pakistan complained the attack killed about 20 people, including women and children, and vowed to defend its sovereignty against foreign forces even as missiles rained down on other militant targets from unmanned U.S. drones. Days later, Pakistani officials and villagers near the site of the initial attack said U.S. helicopters crossed the border from Afghanistan in a second incursion but were forced back by Pakistani ground fire. The incident was denied by both Pakistani and U.S. military officials. As a sign of growing tensions, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, paid an unannounced visit to Pakistan on Tuesday -- his second meeting with Pakistani officials in three weeks. But officials and sources said any future raids must be approved on a mission-by-mission basis by a top U.S. administration official because of the political sensitivities involved and the calculated risk of U.S. troops being killed or captured on Pakistani soil. It was not clear whether permission must be given by the president or can be relegated to the defense secretary. "This is extremely sensitive. You can't have soldiers in the field, or even their commanders, making this kind of decision," said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the topic involves classified information. PAKISTAN 'UNABLE AND UNWILLING' Analysts said U.S. special operations and paramilitary forces have operated inside Pakistan in small numbers for years, mainly in conjunction with the Pakistani military. But U.S. involvement escalated on Sept. 3 when about two dozen U.S. special operations forces backed by an AC-130 gunship raided a suspected al Qaeda compound near the village of Angor Adda in what U.S. officials privately described as a stepped-up campaign to disrupt increasingly dangerous militant safe havens in Pakistan's tribal region. U.S. officials say in safe havens operated by militant groups including al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban, fighters have been trained for an intensifying insurgency in eastern Afghanistan that has helped make that country deadlier than Iraq for U.S. troops. The Bush administration had grown impatient at Pakistan's reluctance to take military action against militant bases. "The U.S. military and intelligence community in Afghanistan was getting increasingly concerned that the Pakistan government was not only unable but unwilling to conduct operations against the militants," said an analyst involved in U.S. government deliberations. "This meant that if we were to deal effectively with one of the most serious concerns about the Afghan insurgency, we needed to step up activity. And that meant we needed a presidential order," the analyst said. The United States has 33,000 troops in Afghanistan and plans to send fresh forces that will increase the overall number by nearly 2,000 by next year, a fraction of the 10,000 troops sought by U.S. commanders on the ground. Former U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Teresita Schaffer said the use of U.S. ground forces could increase political turmoil by inflaming the rivalry between Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif. "If this is a one-off or two-off, you can get past it. But as a regular modus operandi, I don't think the Pakistani government can sustain it," she said. Steve Coll of the New America Foundation said the use of U.S. ground forces posed particular problems for the Pakistani military, which the Bush administration is pressing for more assistance against militants. "It's hard for an army that is as sensitive as Pakistan's is to issues of sovereignty to stand passively before its own public and accept these kinds of incursions," Coll said. (Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Soldiers from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry carry the casket of Private Chad Horn, who was killed in action September 3, 2008 in Afghanistan, during his funeral in Calgary, September ...
