Trial exercise comes days after American administration issues veiled warning.
In a clear indication that the US won’t stop at issuing threats of unilateral military action in Pakistan in case of serious attacks on its soil by terror groups sheltered in the country, the Afghanistan-based American forces have completed dry runs for such a strike.
The trial exercises are a rehearsal of a military’s combat skills without the use of live ammunition.
A few days back, the US had said it was considering unilateral retaliatory strikes against targets in Pakistan in case any terror strike on its soil was traced to the country.
While the US administration qualified the thinly-veiled threat, stating this would be contemplated under extreme circumstances, the fact that it is running out of patience with Pakistan is getting increasingly evident. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton had warned of “severe consequences” after the failed Times Square bombing.
The dry run is believed to be the next step for the US to convince Pakistan of the seriousness of its intent. According to Pakistani daily Dawn, the trial run did not involve US troops.
Instead, it projected computer simulations of such an attack with an assessment of a possible counterattack and of the potential resistance US troops will face if they entered Pakistani soil.
The newspaper said the Americans had informed Pakistan of their intention to conduct such an exercise before conducting the computer simulations. The Bush administration had planned live exercises close to the Pakistan border after the Mumbai attacks in November 2008 and conveyed its decision to Islamabad, the sources added.
This made then Pakistani national security adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani fly to Washington and convince the Americans that such exercises would not help the fight against terrorism. The Americans cancelled the exercise and received an assurance that Pakistan would do its best to prevent extremists from using its soil to attack other countries.
According to a diplomatic source quoted by Dawn, the American decision to once again explore the possibility of a unilateral military strike is not a threat. “It aims at convincing Pakistanis that now is the time to uproot extremists. A failure to do so may lead to an attack on US soil, which, in turn, could lead to an American military strike inside Pakistan.”
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