The U.S. military is working to gain great access to the Pakistan-Afghan border region

GERTZ:

The U.S. military is working to gain great access to the Pakistan-Afghan border region where Al Qaida terrorists have been regrouping and setting up training and operations bases.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held talks with Pakistani military and security leaders on an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean last week but declined to detail the substance of his talks. Mullen said the talks were about the "common security challenges that we face, particularly in the border regions."

Pakistan has denied access to the region by U.S. special operations commandos, except for a short time in the early 2000s and U.S. military leaders would like to conduct joint ground operations there in the terrorist stronghold.

Some U.S. air strikes have been carried out in the border regions, but U.S. officials say there is a need to get commandos on the ground to thwart the growth of the Al Qaida forces.

Subsequent to the meeting with Kiyani on the carrier, of course, US Special Forces raided Waziristan inside the Pkaistani borders, and prior to the swearing in of the new president of Pakistan (whose ruling coalition has already disintegrated), Palistan responded by cutting off all supplies to Afghanistan which as you can see from the map is cut off from the sea.

Mullen told reporters Aug. 28 the two sides "certainly talked about the complexity, the challenges that we have in the border area, the pressure that we believe needs to be brought there for lots of reasons, not the least of which is the effects it's having on the fight in Afghanistan."

Also attending the meeting on the carrier was Adm. Eric Olson, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, which is in charge of counterterrorism special forces.

Mullen said "there were no ultimatums" to the Paks about the border region, noting that "in my view, that doesn't work."

There are no good answers. Any Pakistani govt which allows access, will fall to more (popular as well) islamist forces. PERIOD. Any incursions like last week will also incur retaliation until we are seen as invaders. Perhaps the best outcome would be for an outgoing president to take the responsibility on himself and whack out anyone we can reach NOW.

Any takers?