This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/7611287.stm
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Bush 'approved' Pakistan attacks | |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| President George W Bush has authorised US military raids against militants inside Pakistan without prior approval from Islamabad, the BBC has learned. | President George W Bush has authorised US military raids against militants inside Pakistan without prior approval from Islamabad, the BBC has learned. |
| An unnamed senior Pentagon official told the BBC the classified order had been made within the past two months. | An unnamed senior Pentagon official told the BBC the classified order had been made within the past two months. |
| On Wednesday, the US's top military commander said the US was shifting its strategy in Afghanistan to include raids across the border into Pakistan. | On Wednesday, the US's top military commander said the US was shifting its strategy in Afghanistan to include raids across the border into Pakistan. |
| Pakistan has said it will not allow foreign forces onto its territory. | Pakistan has said it will not allow foreign forces onto its territory. |
| Meanwhile, security officials in Pakistan say they have killed up to 100 militants on the Afghan border. There is no confirmation. | Meanwhile, security officials in Pakistan say they have killed up to 100 militants on the Afghan border. There is no confirmation. |
| The US say that Pakistan's north-west tribal areas are being used as "safe havens" by militants preparing attacks on Afghanistan. | The US say that Pakistan's north-west tribal areas are being used as "safe havens" by militants preparing attacks on Afghanistan. |
| But Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said there was "no question of any agreement or understanding with the coalition forces whereby they are allowed to conduct operations on our side of the border". | But Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said there was "no question of any agreement or understanding with the coalition forces whereby they are allowed to conduct operations on our side of the border". |
| 'Common insurgency' US 'must target Pakistan havens' | |
| A senior Pentagon official told the BBC that Mr Bush gave his approval this summer for cross-border raids into Pakistan. | |
| The order includes the use of conventional ground troops crossing the border into Pakistan to pursue militants there. | |
| The BBC's Kim Ghattas in Washington says it is a sign of growing US frustration with Islamabad's lack of assertive action against the militants. | |
| There is also an increasing concern about the threat such militants pose to Nato troops in neighbouring Afghanistan, and potentially to the US, says our correspondent. | |
| The US has officially stressed the need for co-operation, and on Thursday, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen told Congress that the US must continue to work closely with Pakistan. | |
| "In my view, these two nations are inextricably linked in a common insurgency that crosses the border between them," he said. | |
| "We can hunt down and kill extremists as they cross over the border from Pakistan... but until we work more closely with the Pakistani government to eliminate the safe havens from which they operate, the enemy will only keep coming." | |
| But, our correspondent says, the latest revelation will only add to the tensions between the two countries. |