Pakistan Vs. US Raids: How Bad A Rift?

From Time Magazine:

Pakistan's military and the U.S. forces operating across the country's mountainous border with Afghanistan have become locked into a confusing and potentially dangerous game of brinkmanship over how to fight the al-Qaeda and Taliban militants sheltering on Pakistani soil. U.S. military strikes on Pakistani soil are provoking increasingly strident warnings from Pakistan's military and political leadership, and they are continuing despite Washington's reassurances about respecting Pakistani sovereignty. Still, many believe the Pakistanis are engaged in ritual denunciation of U.S. actions primarily for domestic political consumption.

Exasperated by Pakistan's failure to wipe out the militant sanctuaries on its soil, Washington decided earlier this month to take matters into its own hands. The first known ground assault of the campaign, staged by U.S. Special Operations troops in Angoor Adda, a village in South Waziristan, was followed by stepped up air strikes on suspected militants by pilotless drones. Pentagon officials had suggested in recent weeks that the U.S. would be "testing" the new Pakistani government by stepping up its attacks in western Pakistan to gauge Islamabad's reaction. Previously, U.S. actions had been been limited to launching missile strikes or hot pursuits into Pakistani territory without the consent of the Pakistani government. The Sept. 3 attack was the first significant cross-border U.S. ground strike without prior Pakistani approval — a change approved by President Bush in July. That raid, which Pakistan's military says killed up to 20 people including civilians, triggered angry criticism across Pakistan. As the protector of his country's sovereignty and nervous about rising anti-American sentiment, Pakistan's army chief issued an unprecedented warning in response to the raid. "No external force is allowed to conduct operations inside Pakistan," Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said. The statement was cheered by an anxious public and, in a sign of the military's influence, it was echoed by leading members of the government who had, until then, been reluctant to speak on the issue.

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My Comment: The Pakistan Government has not accepted the new direction that the U.S. military is now following. Both sides are now on a collision course, with the final outcome being an expansion of the war and a conflict that will be bloodier than what was originally conceptualized.