The United States, for the second time in as many days, has said no military options were off the table when it comes to hitting "actionable" targets of the Al Qaeda including strikes inside Pakistan.
"We never rule out any options, including striking actionable targets," the White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said on Board Air Force One en route Tennessee when asked whether the US will pursue targets inside Pakistan to get at the top Al Qaeda leadership holed up.
President Musharraf has put his life on the line and has been a very important ally in the war on terror. It is also clear that Taliban and Al Qaeda, in the frontier and federally administered tribal areas, have begun to put on operations that threaten the Pakistan government itself, he said.
"Which is why President Musharraf, having tried one approach in terms of dealing with the tribal leaders, is now going to be more aggressive and is being more aggressive in moving forces into the region to deal with the security problems there," Snow said, when he was asked the President rules out any American military activity in Pakistan.
The recent National Intelligence Estimate had stressed that Osama bin Laden and his cohorts have a safe haven inside Pakistan. And this had to be factored in as one of the elements for a potential strike against the US.