AMERICAN and Nato forces are taking the Afghan war into Pakistan, targeting pro-Taliban militants in a development that has caused friction with senior Pakistani officials.

They claim that the West’s determination to capture Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders threatens to shatter a controversial peace deal that had bought a breathing space for President Pervez Musharraf’s battered army units in the North Waziristan tribal belt.

The United States believes that Pakistan’s pact with the Taliban has allowed Al-Qaeda to regroup there.

During a visit two weeks ago, Dick Cheney, the US vice-presi-dent, demanded that Musharraf do more to pursue Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan’s border areas, where Osama Bin Laden is believed to be hiding.

American forces are increasingly targeting the terrorist leadership inside Pakistan. Admiral Mike McConnell, the US director of national intelligence, told a congressional hearing: “The intent on our part is to do that more and better . . . hopefully at some point either killing or capturing the senior leadership.”

Last week McConnell appeared to be as good as his word after Nato forces arrested a top Pakistani Taliban leader during a raid from Afghanistan.

A joint force of Nato and Afghan army commandos in two helicopters landed in the Shawal district, which borders Afghanistan’s Paktika province, and seized Hakimullah Mehsud. He was a close aide of Baitullah Mehsud, whose Pakistani Taliban fighters are believed to have sheltered senior Al-Qaeda leaders in North Waziristan.

News of the raid emerged as Nato intensified operations against Taliban forces in Afghanistan to try to foil a planned spring offensive. Observers in Pakistan’s tribal areas report increased activity by Nato spy planes and more helicopter surveillance.

Senior figures in Pakistan’s government condemned American claims of an agreement that allows them to strike from over the border.

Recent Nato strikes have undermined Islamabad’s claims to be a partner in the war against terrorism. There have been incidents in which homes in border villages have been searched and villagers interrogated. Last week a shepherd was seized on the Pakistan side and airlifted to Afghanistan for questioning.

In January, two Pakistani soldiers were killed and two wounded in rocket attacks on their border posts at Shawal in North Waziristan and Angoor Adda in South Waziristan.

The United States is also believed to have been behind an air strike on a religious school in the Bajaur Tribal Agency which killed 80 men and boys in October. Pakistan initially claimed that it had launched the raid to target Taliban militants, but local politicians said the dead were innocent students.

The question of whether Musharraf has given tacit consent for the US strikes into Pakistan territory is highly sensitive. Hayatul-

lah Khan, a journalist who claimed to have discovered proof that America was launching missile raids inside Pakistan, was kidnapped last year and found murdered in North Waziristan.

Last night Lieutenant General Hamid Gul, former director of Pakistan’s intelligence service, said he was preparing to issue a writ in the Supreme Court to stop US raids.

He claimed that senior army figures were embarrassed at what they regarded as a breach of sovereignty, and that continued breaches could result in Musharraf being toppled.

America has been frustrated by the Pakistan army’s weak grip on North Waziristan, which is effectively under Taliban control and is increasingly used as a base for attacks on Nato troops.

Yesterday a Pakistan soldier and three militants were shot dead at a border post there. Militants opened fire when they were challenged as they entered from Afghanistan.

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