The Pakistan - Afghanistan Border Starts To Heat Up

Afghanistan threatened to mount cross-border raids into Pakistan when President Hamid Karzai insisted on his country's right to "self defence".

President Hamid Karzai

From The Telegraph:

Leaders of the Taliban insurgency in southern and eastern Afghanistan are known to be based in the lawless Tribal Areas inside Pakistani territory and along the country's north-west frontier. The self-proclaimed leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, has publicly ordered his followers to cross the border and attack Nato forces inside Afghanistan.

Mr Karzai said Afghanistan had every right to respond. "When they cross the territory from Pakistan to come and kill Afghans and to kill coalition troops it gives us the right to go back and do the same."

Read More ....

News On Afghanistan From Other Sources:
Karzai Threatens to Send Soldiers Into Pakistan -- New York Times
President Karzai in terror warning -- Times Online
Karzai threatens to send forces into Pakistan -- Washington Post
Karzai threat seen as pressure tactic in Pakistan -- Reuters
Afghan prison attack stirs tensions with Pakistan -- Christian Science monitor
Afghans support threat to target Taliban havens -- Washington Times
Gordon Brown to raise British troop numbers in Afghanistan to highest level yet -- The Telegraph
Taliban fighters take over several Afghan villages -- Washington Times
Army secures its gains after Taliban supply route seized -- The Telegraph
A Sober Assessment of Afghanistan -- Washington Post

My Comment: In the blogosphere, the post that got my attention was from Prairie Pundit. I agree with what he says. Quoting ....

There are other indications that Pakistan is starting to feel pressure from outside the country over its deals with the Taliban. Jackson Diehl reports on a conversation with a Pakistan envoy to Washington.

...

I asked Haqqani if he and his new ministers in Islamabad had thought about what would happen to Pakistan and its newly reborn democracy if a major al-Qaeda attack against the United States succeeded and was traced back to the tribal areas. "What do you think keeps me up at night?" he answered. "We want to make sure that it doesn't come to that." Then he was off to the next stop on his tour, and his next plea for patience.

Actually the US has been pretty patient with Pakistan considering the mass murderer we want most is still hiding there. Pakistan needs to explain how its deals with the Taliban will lead to his capture and stop the attacks in Afghanistan. That is probably too tall an order for this government.