Bombing Pakistan

The NYTimes has a state of play piece on the US drone attacks on Pakistan. Their choice for the headlining bit is that the US is about to extend the bombings south into Baluchistan which is not FATA tribally controlled, but run by the central government.

My curious observation would be that, although the US is looking to bomb the northern section far from the Iranian border, there were all sorts of rumors a couple years ago that the US was tapping into and supporting those southern Sunni fundamentalist Baluchs in their cross border attacks into Iran. It just seems messy.

Also in the article,

Many of Mr. Obama’s advisers are also urging him to sustain orders issued last summer by President George W. Bush to continue Predator drone attacks against a wider range of targets in the tribal areas. They also are recommending preserving the option to conduct cross-border ground actions, using C.I.A. and Special Operations commandos...

As always, I would ask why this comes out now, the day after a top level Afghan/Pak strategy meeting at the White House? It reads more like a trial balloon or someone promoting policy.