U.S. Gears Up for Spring Offensive
The Chicago Tribune reported yesterday that American military officials are planning a spring offensive along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, with a view toward cleaning out the al Qaeda remnants hiding there and capturing or killing bin Laden. Apparently the reason why this has not been done already is that President Musharraf would allow only very limited incursions into Pakistan by special forces. Now that he has survived at least two assassination attempts, he is apparently willing to take the political risk of allowing a substantial body of American troops into the country.
On the other hand, President Musharraf himself said today that there is "no possibility" of a large contingent of American troops entering Pakistan to search for bin Laden, which he termed "a very sensitive subject." I assume that it all depends on what you consider to be a large contingent.
Today army spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, apparently referring to the spring offensive, expressed confidence that bin Laden will soon be caught: "We have a variety of intelligence and we’re sure we’re going to catch Osama bin Laden and (fugitive Taliban leader) Mullah Omar this year," Hilferty said. "We’ve learned lessons from Iraq and we’re getting improved intelligence from the Afghan people."
It seems odd that Hilferty would express such certainty that bin Laden and Omar will be caught. I've believed for a long time that the government knows more about bin Laden than they've been telling us; perhaps that he's dead, perhaps that they know his whereabouts and have been monitoring his communications to help roll up the al Qaeda organization. Hilferty's confidence may support this theory.
UPDATE: Hold that offensive. "Pakistan will not allow American troops to use its soil for a planned 'spring offensive' against Taliban or al-Qaida fugitives, officials said Thursday."
