Pakistan Escalation on the Hush-Hush

President Obama aims to step up operations in Pakistan as well as Afghanistan, but he won't be making any speeches about it. The president has quietly authorized an expansion of the CIA campaign against militants but he's still trying to get the green light from the "weak, divided, suspicious" Pakistani government, David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt write in the New York Times.

Several American officials have visited Pakistan in recent weeks to underline the message that the US can't succeed in Afghanistan with any number of troops unless the militant havens across the border are dealt with. Many Pakistanis fear that America may end up abandoning the region, however, and Obama faces the difficult task of persuading them his commitment will be long-term, while reassuring voters at home that US involvement won't be open-ended.
(More al-Qaeda stories.)