By UPI
Pakistan is coming apart and Obama may increase America's role
U.S. President Barack Obama and security advisers are considering pushing airstrikes against the Taliban in Pakistan beyond the tribal region,officials said.
Senior administration officials said two reports on Pakistan and Afghanistan included calls for broadening the target area to include a haven for insurgents in and around Quetta,where Taliban leaders have mounted attacks into southern Afghanistan,The New York Times reported Wednesday.
In separate reports,panels led by U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus,commander of American forces in the region,and U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute,a White House official on Afghanistan,recommended expanding American operations outside the tribal areas if Pakistan cannot eradicate the strengthening insurgency.