FOCUS | US Considering New Covert Push Within Pakistan

Steven Lee Meyers, David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt, writing for The New York Times, report: "President Bush's senior national security advisers are debating whether to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan. The debate is a response to intelligence reports that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are intensifying efforts there to destabilize the Pakistani government, several senior administration officials said."
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Pakistani Army Rejects Covert US Presence

Agence France-Presse reports: "The Pakistani military reacted angrily Sunday to reports that US President George W. Bush is considering covert military operations in the country's volatile tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. 'It is not up to the US administration, it is Pakistan's government who is responsible for this country,' chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP."