The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Washington

The United States has escalated air strikes against al-Qaeda fighters operating in Pakistan's tribal areas fearing that support from Islamabad may slip away, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

US officials, who were not identified, said Washington wants to inflict as much damage as it can to al Qaeda's network now because Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf may not be able to offer much help in the months ahead.

Musharraf, a vital US ally in the campaign against terrorism who has generally supported such strikes, has seen his power wane dramatically over the past year.

Over the past two months, US-controlled Predator aircraft have struck at least three sites used by al-Qaeda operatives, the Post reported.

About 45 Arab, Afghan and other foreign fighters have been killed in the attacks, all near the Afghan border, US and Pakistani officials were cited as saying.

Neither US nor Pakistani authorities officially confirm US missile attacks on Pakistani territory, which would be an infringement of Pakistani sovereignty.

Many al Qaeda members, including Uzbeks and Arabs, and Taliban militants took refuge in North and South Waziristan, as well as in other areas on the Pakistani side of the border after US-led forces ousted the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.

According to the Post, the goal was partly to try to get information on senior al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden, by forcing them to move in ways that US intelligence analysts can detect.

The United States should give Pakistan's new government time to work out its strategy on terrorism, newspapers said on Thursday, with some criticising a visit this week by two US envoys to sound out civilian leaders.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher arrived on Tuesday, shortly before Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was sworn in to lead a government set on re-thinking terrorism policy.

Pakistan has been a staunch US ally since President Pervez Musharraf threw his support behind the US-led war on terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

But former army chief Musharraf's power is waning, especially after his allies were soundly defeated in Feb. 18 parliamentary elections.

Leaders of a new coalition government, led by the parties of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, have spoken of the need for talks with militants based in remote mountains on the Afghan border.