President Pervez Musharraf, who once rebuffed US proposals to step up anti-terror combat operations inside Pakistan, has reportedly approved attacks by American pilotless planes on al Qaeda targets along its restive mountainous border with Afghanistan.The Newsweek magazine quoting US officials and Pakistani sources said the embattled President has given ‘tacit’ approval to the US attacks and that the strikes have been stepped up as officials here fear that the new civilian government will be hostile to such an offensive.Also,the magazine said the attacks gave Washington virtually unrestricted authority to hit targets in the border areas.The approval, which could raise hackles in Pakistan which is in the midst of transition to democracy, comes weeks after Musharraf thew a challenge to anybody to come to Pakistan's mountains saying they will "regret the day."Since January, missiles reportedly fired from CIA operated Predator drones have hit at least three suspected hideouts of Islamic militants, including a strike on March 16 in Toog village in South Waziristan that left 20 dead.The Newsweek quoting US officials and Pakistani sources said the recent wave of Predator attacks are at least partly the result of understandings the US officials reached with Musharraf and other top Pakistanis.The surge, says the magazine in its upcoming issue, began after visits to Pakistan at the beginning of the year by senior US officials, including intelligence czar Mike McConnell, CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden and Adm. William Fallon, who recently resigned as commander of the US forces in the region.Some news reports had said at the time that Musharraf was not in favour of US plans to step up combat operations inside Pakistan.
