THE US warned yesterday it would broaden and intensify its controversial drone strikes on militants hiding in Pakistan's interior if the country did not crack down on Islamic extremists, despite Taliban threats to launch suicide bomb attacks twice a week in retaliation.
The warning came as US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, met Pakistani leaders in Islamabad to urge greater co-operation to combat terrorism.
The US has already intensified its attacks on militants who are using Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas as a base from which to strike at US and NATO forces in neighbouring Afghanistan. But US officials told The New York Times yesterday the Obama administration intended to start targeting top militant commanders, believed to be hiding in Baluchistan, as part of a strategy to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" al-Qa'ida and associated groups.
While US officials stepped up their rhetoric yesterday, President Barack Obama attempted to patch up US relations with the world's Islamic communities in a speech to the Turkish parliament in which he stressed that "America's relationship with the Muslim world cannot, and will not, be based on opposition to al-Qa'ida".
"Our partnership with the Muslim world is critical in rolling back a fringe ideology that people of all faiths reject", he said, adding that "the United States is not at war with Islam".
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari told the two US envoys yesterday that his country needed "unconditional support" to defeat the militants threatening its survival.
"Pakistan is committed to eliminating extremism from the society, for which it needs unconditional support by the international community in the fields of education, health, training and provision of equipment for fighting terrorism," Mr Zardari said.
He also urged the US to negotiate with some militants - a strategy the US is believed to be pursuing in Afghanistan and considering for Pakistan.
The shift in US thinking towards a negotiated settlement with local Taliban leaders not aligned with al-Qa'ida is believed to be influenced by David Kilcullen, a former Australian soldier turned counter-terrorism adviser to the US state department.
Mr Kilcullen - one of a growing number of experts and analysts predicting the US is running out of time to stabilise Pakistan and Afghanistan - warned last week that the nuclear-armed nation could collapse within six months and that such a collapse "would dwarf everything we have seen in the war on terror today".
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