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US military forces are already on alert in response to the June 26 incident in which Al Qaeda terrorists killed the soldiers.
Former assistant secretary of state for Asian affairs Karl Inderfurth said: "This has probably moved [Pakistan President Pervez] Musharraf up a notch or so on Al-Qaeda's most wanted list. Having Pakistani soldiers in combat with Al-Qaeda is Musharraf's worst nightmare."
The incident may also foreshadow an extended spell of violence inside Pakistan, the experts said.
"For several years," said Teresita Schafer, Director of South Asia studies at the Centre for Strategic and International Affairs, "there has been a growing challenge by militant groups to the Pakistan government", and now this has erupted into the open.
She said the Pakistan government faces several years of violence before it can prevail over Islamic extremist groups sympathetic to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
"If we wipe out Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and turn Pakistan over to some other version of the Taliban, that is a net loss, there is no question," a senior Pentagon official was quoted as saying by the Washington Post. But, he added, that is an argument for succeeding in Pakistan, not an argument for giving up.
The outbreak of combat in Pakistan, the daily said, also raises the question whether the US constituted a strategic error by pursuing tactics that widened the war.
PTI
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