another foreign policy disaster created by bush

Pakistan opposition angered by US attacks

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's main opposition party said Friday the country could pull out of the war on terror over stepped-up attacks by U.S. forces in the restive tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

An aide to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif issued the threat hours after 12 people were killed in the latest in a flurry of suspected U.S. missile strikes into Taliban and al-Qaida strongholds in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistan's government and military have protested to Washington over the strikes. However, new President Asif Ali Zardari and other leaders have reiterated their commitment to fighting violent Islamic extremism and have not threatened to withdraw their cooperation.

Still Pakistani leaders are sensitive to public opinion in the country, which is hostile to U.S. policy in the region. And agitation on the issue by Sharif, perhaps the country's most popular politician, could make it hard for Islamabad to maintain the close alliance with Washington forged by Zardari's predecessor, Pervez Musharraf.

American officials have expressed increasing frustration at how Taliban and al-Qaida militants have established bases in Pakistan's border regions that provide support for the intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan.

President Bush secretly approved more aggressive cross-border operations in July, current and former American officials have told The Associated Press.

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