US in a fix over pursuing Al Qaida across the border

Peshawar: Former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld may not have been shy about projecting US military power, but even he didn't dare send American troops into Pakistan's tribal lands to snatch or kill Al Qaida leaders. But now Pakistanis fear the US presidential campaign has heated up the foreign policy debate over how to handle the Taliban and Al Qaida threat to a point where American leaders could throw caution to the wind by taking unilateral action. "If this was a possibility in the past, it's a high possibility now," said a senior security official in the northwestern city of Peshawar, shuddering at the statements coming from the United States. In 2005, Rumsfeld reportedly aborted a mission to eliminate Ayman Al Zawahri, Al Qaida's second-in-command, because it involved too many risks. The risks today may be even... [read full story]