Wall Street Journal report: "CIA Escalates in Pakistan"

Hot off the press:

CIA Escalates in Pakistan
By ADAM ENTOUS, JULIAN E. BARNES And SIOBHAN GORMAN
OCTOBER 2, 2010
The Wall Street Journal

Pentagon Diverts Drones From Afghanistan to Bolster U.S. Campaign Next Door

WASHINGTON—The U.S. military is secretly diverting aerial drones and weaponry from the Afghan battlefront to significantly expand the CIA's campaign against militants in their Pakistani havens.

The shift in strategic focus reflects the U.S. view that, with Pakistan's military unable or unwilling to do the job, more U.S. force against terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan is now needed to turn around the struggling Afghan war effort across the border.

[...]

U.S. officials said there is now less concern about upsetting the Pakistanis than there was a few months ago, and that the U.S. is being more aggressive in its response to immediate threats from across the border.

"You have to deal with the sanctuaries," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D., Mass.) said after meeting with Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, in Washington this week. "I've pushed very, very hard with the Pakistanis regarding that."

[...]

The secret deal to beef up the CIA's campaign inside Pakistan shows the extent to which military officials see the havens there, used by militants to plan and launch attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, as the primary obstacle to the Afghan war effort.

[...]

There's more, much more, to the report. Read the rest here. The Wall Street Journal reporters got quite a scoop on The Washington Post and The New York Times.